Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (novel)
| Even Cowgirls Get the Blues | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
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| Author(s) | Tom Robbins |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Publication date | 1976 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 365 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-395-24305-X |
| OCLC Number | 1993290 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.5/4 |
| LC Classification | PZ4.R636 Ev PS3568.O233 |
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is a 1976 novel by Tom Robbins.[1]
Contents |
Plot summary [edit]
Sissy Hankshaw, the novel's protagonist, is a woman born with enormously large thumbs who considers her mutation a gift.[2] The novel covers various topics, including "free love", drug use, political rebellion, animal rights, body odor, religion, and yams.
Sissy capitalizes on the size of her thumbs by becoming a hitchhiker and subsequently travels to New York, United States (US). The character becomes a model for The Countess, a male homosexual tycoon of feminine hygiene products. The Tycoon introduces Sissy to a staid Mohawk named Julian Gitche, whom she later marries. In her later travels, she encounters, among many others, a sexually open cowgirl named Bonanza Jellybean and an itinerant escapee from a Japanese internment camp happily mislabeled The Chink. The Chink is presented as a hermetic mystic and at one point states "I believe in everything; nothing is sacred. I believe in nothing; everything is sacred. Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee." A flock of whooping cranes also makes frequent appearances throughout the novel which includes details of their physical characteristics and migratory patterns. Robbins also inserts himself into the novel (as a character) as well.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations [edit]
The novel was made into a 1993 film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Uma Thurman, Lorraine Bracco, Pat Morita, Angie Dickinson, Keanu Reeves, John Hurt, Rain Phoenix, Ed Begley, Jr., Carol Kane, Victoria Williams, Sean Young, Crispin Glover, Roseanne Arnold, Buck Henry, Grace Zabriskie, and Treva Jeffryes. Robbins himself was the narrator.
Literary significance and criticism [edit]
Cowgirls ... has been considered a hippie novel by Van Sant.[3] Robbins writes short chapters filled with philosophical asides and quips (such as noting that because amoebae reproduce by binary fission, the first amoeba is still alive), often speaking to the reader (chapter 88 begins with the narrator noting that the book now has as many chapters as a piano has keys).
In 2008, Seattle's Book-It Repertory Theatre adapted the novel into a stage production.
Influences [edit]
- John Cale, formerly of The Velvet Underground, named a song and album after the novel.
- The band Nightmare of You based the song "Thumbelina" on the book.
- The band The Gaslight Anthem titled a song on their album The '59 Sound after the novel.
Partial publication history [edit]
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was first published in 1976 by Houghton Mifflin. It was concurrently released as both a hardcover and paperback novel.
- First hardcover edition: ISBN 0-395-24305-X, Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
- First paperback edition: ISBN 0-395-24510-9, Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
References [edit]
- ^ goodreads (2012). "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues". goodreads. Goodreads Inc. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ BookRags (2012). "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Study Guide & Notes". BookRags. BookRags, Inc. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ Gary Indiana (1993). "Gus Van Sant". BOMB Magazine. Bomb Magazine and New Art Publications. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
External links [edit]
- The Aftrlife: A Tom Robbins Playground
- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues – Language Over Story, Dan Geddes, The Satirist, November 1999
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