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Tom Robbins is worth exploring
Book Review
By Derryll White
Robbins, Tom (1980). Still Life With Woodpecker.
Tom Robbins’ first novel, ‘Another Roadside Attraction,’ set the tone for his continued interview with modern life.
He was not too impressed with the world in 1971, but in his fabulous fashion he found delights in it. Like his love affair with the Remington SL3. ‘Still Life’ spills over puddles of words which gather on the floor beneath the typewriter, while formulating new worlds as yet unconquered. The reader knows from the get-go that this journey is going to be fun. This is Robbins’ third published novel. There’s a line from a Bob Dylan song that resonates here – “to live outside the law you must be honest.”
Some reviewers have called this book a post-modern fairy tale. That is not how this reader sees it. The two main characters serve as archetypes for the modern princess and the outlaw. The princess has a surreal fantastic view of the world and the environmental concerns that need to be addressed in order to save the world (remember – 1971). The outlaw is the Woodpecker, a red-headed bomber who believes freedom is more important than happiness.
Through a long series of fanciful encounters, the two wrestle with the idea of ‘how to make love stay.’ And they do, in their own way.
The book became somewhat of a cult classic, with many early ‘70s rock songs referring to particular things that occurred in the book. Robbins may not be for everyone, but he is certainly worth exploring. Thomas Pynchon is the only author that comes to mind who still writes in this vein. Oh, and Adrianne Harun with ‘A Man Came Out of A Door in the Mountain.’
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Excerpts from the novel:
POSSIBILITY – Such a wonderful idea was the Geo-Therapy Care Fest that it was surprising to her that it hadn’t happened before. An assembly of the best thinkers, the most advanced technicians, the most concerned scientists, the most enlightened artists, pooling their knowledge and dreams for the betterment of all. That was what the United Nations would be were the United Nations not in the hands of the dull and the corrupt. Were it not in the service of ego-politics.
OUTLAW – “Yes, and I love the trite myths of the outlaw. I love the self-conscious romanticisms of the outlaw. I love the black wardrobe of the outlaw. I love the fey smile of the outlaw. I love the Tequila of the outlaw and the beans of the outlaw. I love the way respectable men sneer and say ‘outlaw.’ I love the way young women palpitate and say ‘outlaw.’ The outlaw boat sails against the flow, and I love it. Outlaws toilet where badgers toilet, and I love it. All outlaws are photogenic, and I love that. ‘When freedom is outlawed, only outlaws will be free,’ that’s a graffiti seen in Anacortes, and I love that. There are outlaw maps that lead to outlaw treasures, and I love those maps, especially. Unwilling to wait for mankind to improve, the outlaw lives as if that day were here, and I love that most of all.”
HAWAII – Hawaii was, indeed, a travelogue tableau; a living Pap smear for the paradise flu.
TEQUILA – Tequila, scorpion honey, harsh dew of the doglands, essence of Aztec, crema de cacti; tequila, oily and thermal like the sun in solution; tequila, liquid geometry of passion; tequila, the buzzard god who copulates in midair with the ascending souls of dying virgins; tequila, firebug in the house of good taste; O tequila, savage water of sorcery, what confusion and mischief your sly, rebellious drops do generate.
OUTLAWS – Indeed, the first step toward becoming a true outlaw is the refusal to be victimized.
“All people who live subject to other people’s laws are victims. People who break laws out of greed, frustration, or vengeance are victims. People who overturn laws in order to replace them with their own laws are victims. (I am speaking here of revolutionaries.) We outlaws, however, live beyond the law. We don’t merely live beyond the letter of the law – many businessmen, most politicians, and all cops do that – we live beyond the spirit of the law. In a sense, then, we live beyond society. Have we a common goal, that goal is to turn the tables on the nature of society.
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
