Latest news with #StillLifeWithWoodpecker
USA Today
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Tom Robbins dies: Author whose novels were infused with '70s psychedelic vibe was 92
Tom Robbins dies: Author whose novels were infused with '70s psychedelic vibe was 92 Author Tom Robbins, whose novels read like a hit of literary LSD, filled with fantastical characters, manic metaphors and counterculture whimsy, died on Sunday. He was 92. Robbins' death was announced by his wife, Alexa Robbins, on Facebook. The post did not cite a cause. "He was surrounded by his family and loyal pets. Throughout these difficult last chapters, he was brave, funny and sweet," Alexa Robbins wrote. "He asked that people remember him by reading his books." Robbins indulged the hippie sensibilities of young people starting in the early 1970s with books that had an overarching philosophy of what he called "serious playfulness" and a mandate that it should be pursued in the most outlandish ways possible. As he wrote in "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas," "Minds were made for blowing." Robbins' works included "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", "Another Roadside Attraction" and "Still Life With Woodpecker." Robbins' characters were over the top, off the wall and around the bend. Among them were Sissy Hankshaw, the hitchhiker with the 9-inch thumbs in "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," and Switters, the pacifist CIA operative in love with a nun in "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates." "Skinny Legs and All" featured a talking can of pork and beans, a dirty sock and Turn Around Norman, a performance artist whose act consisted of moving imperceptibly. "What I try to do, among other things, is to mix fantasy and spirituality, sexuality, humor and poetry in combinations that have never quite been seen before in literature," Robbins said in an interview with January magazine in 2000. "And I guess when a reader finishes one of my books ... I would like for him or her to be in the state that they would be in after a Fellini film or a Grateful Dead concert." From newsman to author He was born in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and grew up there and in Richmond, Virginia, in a family that he once described as "kind of a Southern Baptist version of 'The Simpsons.'" Robbins said he was dictating stories to his mother at age 5 and developed his writing skills further at Washington and Lee University in Virginia working on the school newspaper with Tom Wolfe, who would go on to write "The Right Stuff" and "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." Robbins worked as an editor, reporter and critic for newspapers in Richmond and Seattle, where he moved in the 1960s in search of a more progressive atmosphere than the South offered. He had a writing epiphany while reviewing a 1967 concert by the Doors. "It had jimmied the lock on my language box and smashed the last of my literary inhibitions," he wrote in the 2014 memoir "Tibetan Peach Pie." "When I read over the paragraphs I'd written that midnight, I detected an ease, a freedom of expression, a syntax simultaneously wild and precise." What came next was 1971's "Another Roadside Attraction," the roundabout tale of how the mummified, unresurrected body of Jesus was stolen from the Vatican and ended up at a hot dog stand in the U.S. Northwest. Five years later, his second book, "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," in which Sissy hitchhiked her way through a world of sex, drugs and mysticism, made him a cult favorite. His novels often had strong female protagonists, which made him especially popular with women readers. And while he appealed to the youth culture, the literary establishment never warmed to Robbins. Critics said his plots were formulaic and his style overwrought. Robbins wrote his books in longhand on legal pads, producing only a couple of pages a day and with nothing plotted in advance. An attempt at using an electric typewriter ended with the author bashing it with a piece of lumber. He labored over word selection and said he liked to "remind reader and writer alike that language is not the frosting, it's the cake." As a result, his works were overflowing with wild-eyed metaphors. "Word spread like a skin disease in a nudist colony," he wrote in "Skinny Legs and All." In "Jitterbug Perfume" he described a falling man as going down "like a sack of meteorites addressed special delivery to gravity." Robbins, who had three children, lived with his wife, Alexa, in La Conner, Washington, 70 miles north of Seattle.
The Guardian
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
A life in quotes: Tom Robbins
Tom Robbins, the bestselling chronicler of the weird, whimsical and off-the-wall, has died at the age of 92, his family confirmed on Sunday. A prolific writer and editor, Robbins aligned with the hippie sensibilities of the 1960s, writing books under his guiding philosophy of 'serious playfulness' – outlandish characters, absurd metaphors and fantastical prose, like a hit of literary LSD. His novels, including Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Another Roadside Attraction and Still Life With Woodpecker, garnered a cult-following, even as they were dismissed by mainstream critics as overwrought. Here are some of his most memorable quotes: What I try to do, among other things, is to mix fantasy and spirituality, sexuality, humor and poetry in combinations that have never quite been seen before in literature. And I guess when a reader finishes one of my books … I would like for him or her to be in the state that they would be in after a Fellini film or a Grateful Dead concert. – to January Magazine, 2000 Minds were made for blowing. – Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, 1994 Love easily confuses us because it is always in flux between illusion and substance, between memory and wish, between contentment and need. – Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, 1976 When we're incomplete, we're always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we're still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on – series polygamy – until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter. – Still Life with Woodpecker, 1980 The highest function of love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplaceable being. – Jitterbug Perfume, 1984 Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words 'make' and 'stay' become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free. – Still Life with Woodpecker Our lives are not as limited as we think they are; the world is a wonderfully weird place; consensual reality is significantly flawed; no institution can be trusted, but love does work; all things are possible; and we all could be happy and fulfilled if we only had the guts to be truly free and the wisdom to shrink our egos and quit taking ourselves so damn seriously. – to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2007 We are our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves. – Still Life with Woodpecker A sense of humor … is superior to any religion so far devised. – Jitterbug Perfume Our individuality is all, all, that we have. There are those who barter it for security, those who repress it for what they believe is the betterment of the whole society, but blessed in the twinkle of the morning star is the one who nurtures it and rides it in, in grace and love and wit, from peculiar station to peculiar station along life's bittersweet route. – Jitterbug Perfume Establishment critics, to this day, write me off as a counter-culture writer, even though of my nine novels, the last six have had nothing to do with counter-culture things. And I wouldn't have missed the '60s for a billion dollars – but neither I nor my life's work can be defined by counter-culture sensibilities. – to NPR, 2014 So you think that you're a failure, do you? Well, you probably are. What's wrong with that? In the first place, if you've any sense at all you must have learned by now that we pay just as dearly for our triumphs as we do for our defeats. Go ahead and fail. But fail with wit, fail with grace, fail with style. A mediocre failure is as insufferable as a mediocre success. Embrace failure! Seek it out. Learn to love it. That may be the only way any of us will ever be free. – Even Cowgirls Get the Blues To say that you can't take life seriously and that life shouldn't be taken seriously is not to say that life is trivial or frivolous. Quite the contrary. There's nothing the least bit frivolous about the playful nature of the universe. Playfulness at a fully conscious level is extremely profound. In fact there is nothing more profound. Wit and playfulness are dreadfully serious transcendence of evil. – to January Magazine, 2000
MTV Lebanon
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- MTV Lebanon
Author Tom Robbins dies at 92
Author Tom Robbins, whose novels read like a hit of literary LSD, filled with fantastical characters, manic metaphors and counterculture whimsy, died on Sunday. He was 92. Robbins' death was announced by his wife, Alexa Robbins, on Facebook. The post did not cite a cause. "He was surrounded by his family and loyal pets. Throughout these difficult last chapters, he was brave, funny and sweet," Alexa Robbins wrote. "He asked that people remember him by reading his books." Robbins indulged the hippie sensibilities of young people starting in the early 1970s with books that had an overarching philosophy of what he called "serious playfulness" and a mandate that it should be pursued in the most outlandish ways possible. As he wrote in "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas," "Minds were made for blowing." Robbins' works included "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", "Another Roadside Attraction" and "Still Life With Woodpecker." Robbins' characters were over the top, off the wall and around the bend. Among them were Sissy Hankshaw, the hitchhiker with the 9-inch thumbs in "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," and Switters, the pacifist CIA operative in love with a nun in "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates." "Skinny Legs and All" featured a talking can of pork and beans, a dirty sock and Turn Around Norman, a performance artist whose act consisted of moving imperceptibly. "What I try to do, among other things, is to mix fantasy and spirituality, sexuality, humor and poetry in combinations that have never quite been seen before in literature," Robbins said in an interview with January magazine in 2000. "And I guess when a reader finishes one of my books ... I would like for him or her to be in the state that they would be in after a Fellini film or a Grateful Dead concert." He was born in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and grew up there and in Richmond, Virginia, in a family that he once described as "kind of a Southern Baptist version of 'The Simpsons.'" Robbins said he was dictating stories to his mother at age 5 and developed his writing skills further at Washington and Lee University in Virginia working on the school newspaper with Tom Wolfe, who would go on to write "The Right Stuff" and "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test."
Express Tribune
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Tom Robbins, counterculture novelist known for surreal storytelling, dies at 92
Tom Robbins, the American novelist known for his eccentric storytelling and countercultural themes, has died at the age of 92. His wife, Alexa Robbins, confirmed his passing in a Facebook post, stating that he was surrounded by family and pets in his final moments. She did not disclose a cause of death but shared that he remained humorous and kind throughout his final days. Robbins requested that people remember him by reading his books. Robbins was renowned for his unconventional novels, including Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976), Another Roadside Attraction (1971), and Still Life With Woodpecker (1980). His works often blended surreal humor, mysticism, and irreverent narratives, appealing to counterculture audiences. His characters were famously quirky, such as Sissy Hankshaw, a hitchhiker with unusually large thumbs, and Switters, a pacifist CIA agent infatuated with a nun. His style, filled with elaborate metaphors and unconventional plots, gained him a cult following, particularly among young readers. Robbins, born in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and raised in Richmond, Virginia, discovered his passion for storytelling early on, later honing his skills at Washington and Lee University. He initially pursued a journalism career before transitioning to fiction, moving to Seattle in the 1960s in search of a more progressive environment. A 1967 Doors concert, which he once described as 'unlocking' his creativity, led him to embrace a freer, more unconventional writing style. Despite his popularity, Robbins was not widely embraced by literary critics, who often found his writing style excessive. However, his influence remained strong, and his works continued to resonate with readers. Despite mixed reviews from the literary establishment, his impact on counterculture literature endured. Robbins is survived by his wife and three children.
NBC News
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Tom Robbins, 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues' author, dies at 92
Author Tom Robbins, whose novels read like a hit of literary LSD, filled with fantastical characters, manic metaphors and counterculture whimsy, died Sunday. He was 92. Robbins' death was announced by his wife, Alexa Robbins, on Facebook. The post did not cite a cause. 'He was surrounded by his family and loyal pets. Throughout these difficult last chapters, he was brave, funny and sweet,' Alexa Robbins wrote. 'He asked that people remember him by reading his books.' Robbins indulged the hippie sensibilities of young people starting in the early 1970s with books that had an overarching philosophy of what he called 'serious playfulness' and a mandate that it should be pursued in the most outlandish ways possible. As he wrote in 'Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas:' 'Minds were made for blowing.' Robbins' works included 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," "Another Roadside Attraction' and 'Still Life With Woodpecker.' Robbins' characters were over the top, off the wall and around the bend. Among them were Sissy Hankshaw, the hitchhiker with the 9-inch thumbs in 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,' and Switters, the pacifist CIA operative in love with a nun in 'Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates.' 'Skinny Legs and All' featured a talking can of pork and beans, a dirty sock and Turn Around Norman, a performance artist whose act consisted of moving imperceptibly. 'What I try to do, among other things, is to mix fantasy and spirituality, sexuality, humor and poetry in combinations that have never quite been seen before in literature,' Robbins said in an interview with January magazine in 2000. 'And I guess when a reader finishes one of my books ... I would like for him or her to be in the state that they would be in after a Fellini film or a Grateful Dead concert.' He was born in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and grew up there and in Richmond, Virginia, in a family that he once described as 'kind of a Southern Baptist version of 'The Simpsons.'' Robbins said he was dictating stories to his mother at age 5 and developed his writing skills further at Washington and Lee University in Virginia working on the school newspaper with Tom Wolfe, who would go on to write 'The Right Stuff' and 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.' From newspapers to novels Robbins worked as an editor, reporter and critic for newspapers in Richmond and Seattle, where he moved in the 1960s in search of a more progressive atmosphere than the South offered. He had a writing epiphany while reviewing a 1967 concert by the Doors. 'It had jimmied the lock on my language box and smashed the last of my literary inhibitions,' he wrote in the 2014 memoir 'Tibetan Peach Pie.' 'When I read over the paragraphs I'd written that midnight, I detected an ease, a freedom of expression, a syntax simultaneously wild and precise.' What came next was 1971's 'Another Roadside Attraction,' the roundabout tale of how the mummified, unresurrected body of Jesus was stolen from the Vatican and ended up at a hot dog stand in the U.S. Northwest. Five years later, his second book, 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,' in which Sissy hitchhiked her way through a world of sex, drugs and mysticism, made him a cult favorite. His novels often had strong female protagonists, which made him especially popular with women readers. And while he appealed to the youth culture, the literary establishment never warmed to Robbins. Critics said his plots were formulaic and his style overwrought. Robbins wrote his books in longhand on legal pads, producing only a couple of pages a day and with nothing plotted in advance. An attempt at using an electric typewriter ended with the author bashing it with a piece of lumber. He labored over word selection and said he liked to 'remind reader and writer alike that language is not the frosting, it's the cake.' As a result, his works were overflowing with wild-eyed metaphors. 'Word spread like a skin disease in a nudist colony,' he wrote in 'Skinny Legs and All.' In 'Jitterbug Perfume' he described a falling man as going down 'like a sack of meteorites addressed special delivery to gravity.'
