Tom Robbins

Tom Robbins (born July 22, 1932, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, U.S.—died February 9, 2025, La Conner, Washington) was an American novelist noted for his eccentric characters, playful optimism, and self-conscious wordplay. He was often described as a voice of the 1960s counterculture, although he once told National Public Radio, “I wouldn’t have missed the ’60s for a billion dollars, but neither I nor my life’s work can be defined by counterculture sensibilities.”

Robbins was educated at Washington and Lee University, Richmond Professional Institute, and the University of Washington. He served in the U.S. Air Force, hitchhiked across the United States, and worked as a journalist and art critic. His first two novels became popular only when they were released in paperback editions. Another Roadside Attraction (1971), anchored by extensive research into early Christianity, is about a native of rural Washington who steals the mummy of Jesus Christ. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976) is the story of a female hitchhiker with enormous thumbs who visits a woman’s spa in South Dakota. The latter was made into a film in 1994 that was directed by Gus Van Sant (who also wrote the screenplay) and starred Uma Thurman as the hitchhiker.

Robbins’s later novels include Still Life with Woodpecker (1980); Jitterbug Perfume (1984), which centers on a medieval king who lives for 1,000 years before becoming a janitor in Albert Einstein’s laboratory; Skinny Legs and All (1990), a fantastical novel that follows five inanimate objects on a journey to Jerusalem while exploring the Arab-Israeli conflict and religious fundamentalism, among other political themes; Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (1994); Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates (2000), the story of a hedonistic CIA operative who is cursed by a Peruvian shaman to forever keep his feet off the ground lest he die; and Villa Incognito (2003). Wild Ducks Flying Backward (2005) is a collection of assorted writings that includes essays, travelogues, and poems. The memoir Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life was published in 2014.

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