Who Is Tom Robbins Still Life With Woodpecker

Tom Robbins, a highly esteemed post-modern writer, takes much pride in calling himself a disillusioned feminist. Growing up during the second wave of feminism, Robbins found himself at many a feminist rally, and found that he was in love with the idea of feminism and of course, women, but he was disgusted by feminists. Thus, when Tom Robbins became an author, he wrote novels that not only told a story, but were able to be platforms for his conscious beliefs and ideals, such as his belief in feminism. Furthermore, these stories became a way for Robbins to subconsciously release his repressed, Freudian sexual desire. Robbins’s books, particularly Still Life with Woodpecker, are full of strong, extremely capable, female characters for which Robbins
Three years into college, he dropped out to become an author. However, he favors embellishing the story by telling people that he “dropped out to write fiction in a Washington State fishing village” (French 1). A little while after his dropping out, Robbins struggled with LSD, which many say is the basis behind his “non-linear, psychedelic structure” (Boyd 1). However, many say that because Robbins dropped out of college, he not only didn’t physically graduate, but he didn’t mentally graduate in terms of maturity, and therefore, his “trademark cuckoo plots, woo-woo philosophizing, and cheerful misogyny” are too immature for a “sober and steely-eyed 21-year old college graduate” (Boyd 1). Robbins now lives in seclusion with his family in La Conner. He has a wife, a dog, and three kids, all from previous marriages. At the age of 82, Robbins is still living and working on
It is often believed that men see women as purely sexual objects, when in all reality, that is not usually the case. One of Robbins’s most used quotes is as follows: “Just because you are naked doesn’t mean you’re sexy. Just because you’re cynical doesn’t mean you’re cool” (Robbins in press). This quote suggests that Robbins’ is much more attracted to women who are empowered and smart; therefore, when Robbins creates the character of Leigh-Cheri, it is clear he has created her as the epitome of his ideal woman. Although Leigh-Cheri momentarily falls into the cliché woman role when waiting for Bernard to get out of jail, saying “I’ll follow him to the end of the earth” (Robbins 132), after spending months in a jail cell and having her love ripped from her via some not-so-kind words from Bernard, Leigh-Cheri has a grand realization, and goes on a quest to find herself. Her revelation begins by her realization that “we are our own dragons, as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves” (Robbins 176). She then is whisked off to Egypt, and meets a rich man whom which she marries, but she always holds control of her feelings, learning to never let herself be seen as so desperate and dependent as she was in Bernard’s arms. In Egypt, the gender roles are almost reversed. This idea is suggested by Zuzana Hosova in her thesis, which states “among the leitmotifs