Tom Robbins
Thomas Eugene Robbins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 22 July 1936 Blowing Rock, North Carolina), United States |
| Occupation | novelist, short story writer, essayist |
| Nationality | United States |
| Genre | Fictional prose |
Thomas Eugene Robbins (born July 22, 1936 in Blowing Rock, North Carolina) is an American author. His novels are complex, often wild stories with strong social undercurrents, a satirical bent, and obscure details. His novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976) was made into a movie in 1993 directed by Gus Van Sant.
Biography
In 1954, Robbins studied journalism at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia but left after he was ousted from his fraternity for discipline problems. He spent the following year hitchhiking, finally settling in New York as a poet.
In 1957 he enlisted in the Air Force after receiving his draft notice and spent three years as a meteorologist in Korea.
Following his service, he returned to civilian life in Richmond, Virginia. There, he entered art school at Richmond Professional Institute, which later became Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and was the editor of the campus newspaper as well as a copy editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Upon graduation, he moved to Seattle to seek a Masters degree at the School of Far Eastern Studies of the University of Washington. While in Seattle, he worked for The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Robbins moved to LaConner, Washington in 1970, and has lived there ever since. He won the Golden Umbrella award at the Bumbershoot Seattle arts festival in 1997.
He was a friend of Terence McKenna, whose influence is evident in several of his books. A main character (Larry Diamond) in Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas advocates a theory similar to those of McKenna, involving Psilocybin. In addition, there are striking parallels between one of the main characters of Jitterbug Perfume (Wiggs Dannyboy) and McKenna. He is also an admirer of Indian mystic Osho.[1]
Bibliography
- Another Roadside Attraction (1971)
- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976)
- Still Life with Woodpecker (1980)
- Jitterbug Perfume (1984)
- Skinny Legs and All (1990)
- Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (1994)
- Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates (2000)
- Villa Incognito (2003)
- Wild Ducks Flying Backward (2005) — a collection of non-fiction essays, reviews, and short stories.
References
External links
- AFTRlife - A Tom Robbins playground (fansite)
- WGA: How to Write Like Tom Robbins
- A 1984 interview with Tom Robbins
- From Blowing Rock to Windy Cliff: A Tentative Chronology
- A biographical essay (2003)
- Basking Robbins Interview (1985)
- Salon.com mini-bio (2000)
- Seattle Weekly interview (2000)