 First edition (hardcover) | |
| Author | Tom Robbins |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
Publication date | 1976 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 365 pp |
| ISBN | 0-395-24305-X |
| OCLC | 1993290 |
| 813/.5/4 | |
| LC Class | PZ4.R636 Ev PS3568.O233 |
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is a 1976 novel by Tom Robbins. [1]
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, feminism, drug use, birds, 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. The character becomes a model for The Countess, a male homosexual tycoon of menstrual 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 writes on a cave wall, "I believe in everything; nothing is sacred. I believe in nothing; everything is sacred." and frequently says "Ha Ha Ho Ho and 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).
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.
"Cowgirls ..." has been considered by Gus Van Sant to be a 'hippy' novel. [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).
The novel was originally to be published by Doubleday as they had right-of-first-refusal to Robbins's second book. However Robbins terminated his contract with Doubleday for a better offer from editor Ted Solotaroff and Bantam Books. Bantam was mass-paperback publisher, and they auctioned the rights for hardcover to Houghton Mifflin.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was first published in 1976 by Houghton Mifflin. It was concurrently released as both a hardcover and trade paperback novel. It was later released as a mass-market paperback by Bantam Books.
Gus Green Van Sant Jr. is an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician who has earned acclaim as an independent filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures, in particular homosexuality. Van Sant is considered one of the most prominent auteurs of the New Queer Cinema movement.
A paperback book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardback (hardcover) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, leather, paper, or plastic.
Thomas Eugene Robbins is an American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies". Tom Robbins has lived in La Conner, Washington since 1970, where he has written nine books. His 1976 novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was adapted into the 1993 film version by Gus Van Sant. His latest work, published in 2014, is Tibetan Peach Pie, which is a self-declared "un-memoir".
Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains part of that company.
Rain Joan of Arc Phoenix is an American actress, musician, and singer. She is the older sister of Joaquin, Liberty and Summer Phoenix and younger sister of River Phoenix.
City of Night is a novel written by John Rechy. It was originally published in 1963 in New York by Grove Press. Earlier excerpts had appeared in Evergreen Review, Big Table, Nugget, and The London Magazine.
Wife (1975) is a novel by Bharati Mukherjee.The book was originally published by Houghton Mifflin.
Skinny Legs and All, novelist Tom Robbins's fifth book, was published in 1990 by Bantam Books. As with all of Robbins's novels, it weaves disparate and seemingly unrelated themes into a single narrative.
Blue Kentucky Girl is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Emmylou Harris, released in 1979. The album features Harris delving into more traditional country than the country-rock sound of her previous releases. Songs include work by Willie Nelson and Gram Parsons. Rodney Crowell's "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" featured harmonies by Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, and came out of the women's ill-fated 1978 recording sessions, where they first attempted to record a "trio" album.
Cameron Hawley was an American writer of fiction from Howard, South Dakota. Much of Hawley's output concerned the pressures of modern life, particularly in a business setting. He published numerous novels and short stories.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama western film based on Tom Robbins' 1976 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Gus Van Sant and starred an ensemble cast led by Uma Thurman, Lorraine Bracco, Angie Dickinson, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, Keanu Reeves, John Hurt, and Rain Phoenix. Robbins himself was the narrator. The soundtrack was sung entirely by k.d. lang. The film was dedicated to the late River Phoenix.
A Family Affair is a Nero Wolfe detective novel published by the Viking Press in 1975. It is the last Nero Wolfe book written by Rex Stout who died less than six months after the publication of the book.
Cowboy's Sweetheart is the name of a studio album, released by country singer Lynn Anderson in 1992.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is the name of a studio album by country music legend Lynn Anderson released in 1980.
Don't Bite the Sun is a 1976 science fiction novel by Tanith Lee set in a utopian world which the main character comes to reject. The main character and her friends are wild, crazy "Jang" teenagers whose lifestyle is full of reckless behaviour, promiscuous sex, repeated suicide, and a constant search for thrills. Over the course of the story, the nameless narrator fails to relate to her seven Jang friends but finds herself, feels emotion, and learns love.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues may refer to:
We Who Are About To... is a feminist science fiction novella by Joanna Russ. It first appeared in magazine form in the January 1976 and February 1976 issues of Galaxy Science Fiction and was first published in book form by Dell Publishing in July 1977.
Toni Lopopolo is a literary agent whose book publishing career began in 1970 in the publicity department of Bantam Books, where she helped publicize authors such as Philip Roth, Barbara Cartland, Isaac Asimov and Louis L'Amour.
Private Games, written by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan, is the second book of the Private London series. The Private London series is itself a spin-off of the Private series. This book was first published on January 1, 2012, by Little, Brown and Company.
"Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" is a song written by Rodney Crowell. It has since been covered by several artists, notably La Costa, Emmylou Harris and Lynn Anderson. Crowell claims to have written "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" about Harris and her pal Susanna Clark. The title of the song is taken from the then-popular novel of the same name by author Tom Robbins. The song has been released as a single twice and has also appeared on albums of various artists.