robbins.gif Tom Robbins (1936- )

Siwash Ridge had become as quiet and inanimate as the geology book that might describe its formations. Indian summer, the ham, was taking yet another curtain call, and the hills, warmed into an expansive mood, heaped bouquets of asters at its feet. Goldenrod, too. And butterfly weed. Giant sunflowers, like junkie scarecrows on the nod, dozed in one spot with their dry heads drooped upon their breastbones. Their lives extended another day, flies buzzed everything within their range, monotonously eulogizing themselves, like the patriots who persist in praising the glory of a culture long after it is decadent and doomed.

--from Even Cowgirls Get the Blues



Known for his offbeat plots and inventive style, the American novelist Thomas Eugene Robbins, b. Blowing Rock, N.C., 1936, is widely read by high school and college students. After attending several colleges, Robbins worked as a copy editor for three newspapers--the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Seattle Times (where he was also art critic), and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. His first novel, Another Roadside Attraction (1971), was followed by Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976), probably his most highly regarded work, Still Life with Woodpecker (1980), Jitterbug Perfume (1984), and Skinny Legs and All (1990).

Bibliography: Klinkowitz, Jerome, The Practice of Fiction in America (1980); Siegel, Mark, Tom Robbins (1980).

Text Copyright © 1993 Grolier Incorporated



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