Wild Ducks Flying Backward

Knownforhismeatyseriocomicnovels,TomRobbins’sshorterworkhasappearedinpublicationsrangingfromEsquiretoHarper’s,fromPlayboytotheNewYorkTimes.Collectedhereforthefirsttimeinpaperback,theessays,articles,observations—andevensomeuntypicalcountry-musiclyrics—offerarareoverviewoftheeclecticsensibilityofanAmericanoriginal.WhetherrockingwiththeDoors,depoliticizingPicasso’sGuernica,lamentingtheangst-riddenstateofcontemporaryliterature,ordroolingovertomatosandwichesandaspeciesofwomanhoodhecalls“thegeniuswaitress,”TomRobbins’sbrieferwritingsexhibitthefivetraitsthatperhapsbestcharacterizehisnovels:animaginativewit,acheerfullybrashdisregardforconvention,asweetlynastyeroticism,amysticalbutkeenlyobservanteye,andanirrepressibleloveoflanguage.Embeddedinthisprimarilyjournalisticcompilationarebrand-newshortstories,asheafoflargelyunpublishedpoems,andanoffbeatassessmentofourdividednation.WhereveryouopenWildDucksFlyingBackward,you’llencountertheseriousplayfulnessthatpercolatesfromthemindofaself-described“romanticZenhedonist”and“straydoginthebanquethallsofculture.”,