Known for his meaty seriocomic novels, Tom Robbins's shorter work has appeared in publications ranging from <i>Esquire</i> to <i>Harper's</i>, from <i>Playboy</i> to the <i>New York Times</i>. Collected here for the first time in paperback, the essays, articles, observations—and even some untypical country-music lyrics—offer a rare overview of the eclectic sensibility of an American original.<b> <br><br></b>Whether rocking with the Doors, depoliticizing Picasso's <i>Guernica,</i> lamenting the angst-ridden state of contemporary literature, or drooling over tomato sandwiches and a species of womanhood he calls “the genius waitress,” Tom Robbins's briefer writings exhibit the five traits that perhaps best characterize his novels: an imaginative wit, a cheerfully brash disregard for convention, a sweetly nasty eroticism, a mystical but keenly observant eye, and an irrepressible love of language. Embedded in this primarily journalistic compilation are brand-new short stories, a sheaf of largely unpublished poems, and an offbeat assessment of our divided nation. Wherever you open <b>Wild Ducks Flying Backward</b><i>,</i> you'll encounter the serious playfulness that percolates from the mind of a self-described “romantic Zen hedonist” and “stray dog in the banquet halls of culture.”