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The female flip-side to Henry Miller's [book: Tropic of Cancer]? That's sort of how it was portrayed on its release. (Read Jong's The Devil At Large for more on that, and her correspondence/friendship with an elderly Miller) As much as this book is about sexual liberation, it's also about neuroses, the failings of stodgy psychoanalysis, and a woman's journey to find herself. ( )

Isadora Wing, jeune New-Yorkaise séduisante et insolente, se trouve dans une situation embarrassante : alors qu'elle a peur en avion, la voilà embarquée à dix mille mètres d'altitude avec cent dix-sept psychanalystes, dont sept l'ont eue comme analysante. Assis à côté d'elle, le septième est devenu son second mari. Bien qu'il l'ennuie terriblement, elle l'accompagne à Vienne où elle s'apprête à passer une semaine de séminaires fastidieux. Mais sa rencontre avec Adrian Goodlove, un Anglais au charme irrésistible, va bouleverser son voyage, son mariage et sa vie.
Érotique et littéraire, sensuel et intelligent, ce roman captivant a suscité une vive polémique lors de sa publication aux États-Unis en 1973, en plein mouvement de libération des femmes, et a valu à Erica Jong un succès international à seulement vingt-neuf ans. Le Complexe d'Icare est un chef d'oeuvre comique qui reste d'une insolence monumentale.
Source: Amazon - October 5, 2021

Exceptional and hilarious book by Jong that is not so strong for its story (the mild adulterous adventure of an anxious middle-class Jewish woman in Europe in the 1970s), but for its context (the role of women in contemporary society, and the belittlement of female roles as perceived through the protagonist's experiences). Said to have 'kick-started second wave feminism', the arguments presented through literature remain sadly relevant and are all the more powerful for this. ( )

An exploration into the psychology of a woman finding herself, at the vanguard of the feminist movement of the 1960s. It deserves its shocking reputation even all these years later, with a relish for scatology reminiscent of Rabelais, always with a commitment to tell the emotional truth about the main character's life. Gradually, in fits and starts, Isadora invents a way to define who she is independent of the men around her. Each of these guys is described with an instinct for depicting the deep possessiveness, amounting to creepiness, that constitutes a recurring theme in her life. By the end of her misadventures, I got the sense that she was going to try something different for a change in hopes that she might have a hope of happiness.
It's a challenge to read this now and keep in mind that the things the author was doing in the 1960s was considered far out of bounds, because of all the novels which she helped inspire in the years since. A profanity-laced story, full of shocking confessional scenes, with characters who refuse to recognize societal boundaries and go still (mostly) unpunished for their transgressions would not be considered unique in this century. Perhaps the author would be accused of button-pushing or seeking attention, but not of trying to pull down society as a whole.
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