Lance Carson
Tom Robbins' fourth novel, Jitterbug Perfume, is an epic tale that combines fantasy with comedy, intertwining the lives of characters across centuries. The story follows two narratives, one set in Ancient Eurasia and the other in the present day, exploring themes of immortality, humour, individuality, and love. With its bizarre yet human details, philosophical musings, and unique characters, Jitterbug Perfume has been described as postmodern, magic realism, and satire. The novel has inspired businesses, compositions, and songs, leaving a lasting impact on its readers and popular culture.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Genre | Postmodernism, magic realism, satire, fantasy, comedy |
| Themes | Immortality, humour, individuality, love, religion, politics, human nature |
| Narrative Style | Intertwined lives across time and space, epic, bizarre, humorous, philosophical, carnal |
| Characters | Alobar, Kudra, Priscilla, Dr. Dannyboy Wiggs, Pan, Lily Devalier, V'lu, Claude, Marcel |
| Symbols | Beets, bees, scents, carrots, jasmine, perfume |
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What You'll Learn
Postmodern themes of immortality, humour, individuality, and love
Tom Robbins' novel Jitterbug Perfume explores postmodern themes of immortality, humour, individuality, and love through its quirky characters and narrative structure.
The novel's central theme of immortality is evident in the quest undertaken by its main characters, Alobar and Kudra. In the novel, Alobar, a king who has escaped regicide, travels through Eurasia in search of the secret to longevity. Along the way, he meets Kudra, a young Indian girl who is also seeking to escape death. Together, they embark on a journey that spans centuries and continents, encountering various characters and situations that offer insights into the nature of immortality. This theme of immortality is further explored through the novel's parallel plotline, which involves a group of parfumiers attempting to create a perfume that will outdo all others. This plotline highlights the connection between scent and immortality, as the characters seek to capture the "immortality-essence" in bottled liquid form.
Humour is another key element of Jitterbug Perfume, with Robbins employing wit and satire to address even the most serious of topics. The novel's light-hearted and playful tone is established through its eccentric characters, such as the con artist and philosopher Dr. Dannyboy Wiggs, and its absurd situations, such as the mysterious appearances of beets throughout the narrative. Robbins' humorous prose and one-liners keep the reader engaged, even as the story delves into philosophical and metaphysical territory.
The novel also celebrates individuality and the unique qualities that make each person who they are. Through the character of Alobar, Robbins explores the shift from community-think to the individualism of modernity. Alobar's rejection of his fate and his decision to forge his own path, free from the constraints of his society, embodies this theme of embracing one's true self. Additionally, the novel's diverse cast of characters, each with their own distinct personalities and quirks, further emphasises the value of individuality.
Finally, love is a central theme in Jitterbug Perfume, as Alobar and Kudra's relationship serves as a powerful example of soulmates coming together. Their journey is driven by their mutual desire to escape death and their love for each other, which only strengthens as they face challenges and explore new places together. Their love story adds a layer of depth and emotion to the novel's exploration of immortality and the human condition.
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Interweaving storylines of past and present
Jitterbug Perfume, written by Tom Robbins, is a novel that interweaves two storylines, one in Ancient Eurasia and one in the present day. The novel connects the stories of perfumers in Seattle, Paris, and New Orleans to a bottle of incomparable perfume created by two lovers from the past, Alobar and Kudra, who sought immortality.
In the first storyline, set in Ancient Eurasia, Alobar, a powerful and chiselled 8th-century king, escapes regicide at the hands of his subjects due to their custom of killing the leader at the first sign of aging. No longer a king, Alobar travels through Eurasia in search of the secret to longevity. He eventually encounters the god Pan, who directs him further east in search of the masters of immortality. Along the way, Alobar meets Kudra, a young Indian girl trying to escape her own death, and they become soulmates. Together, they figure out how to arrest the aging process and achieve immortality, even learning how to capture their essence in bottled liquid form.
In the present day, Priscilla, a part-time waitress and amateur perfumer in Seattle, attempts to recreate a fragrance from the last remaining drops of a three-hundred-year-old perfume bottle in her possession. She begins an affair with an eccentric Irish philosopher, Wiggs Dannyboy, who runs a clinic for immortality research called the Last Laugh Foundation. In New Orleans, Priscilla's stepmother, Madame Devalier, also a perfumer, is working to recreate the same fragrance as Priscilla. Meanwhile, in Paris, the LeFever cousins of the LeFever Parfumerie are creating a new scent with a synthetic base.
As the novel progresses, the two storylines converge when Alobar time-travels to the present, providing the evolutionary missing link to "floral consciousness". He teams up with Dr. Wiggs Dannyboy, who adds a new-age theory to the quest for immortality. The characters come together and discover an unexpected path to everlasting life, uniting the interweaving storylines of the past and the present.
The novel has been described as postmodern, with elements of magic realism, satire, and philosophical musings on the quest for immortality. It explores themes of scent, floral consciousness, and the interplay between the physical/natural and intellectual/rational. Robbins' unique style blends humour, wit, and imaginative storytelling, creating a wildly creative and entertaining novel that takes readers on a journey through time and space.
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Characters' bizarre and human qualities
Jitterbug Perfume features a colourful cast of characters, some of whom are bizarre, while others display very human qualities. The novel's central characters are Alobar and Kudra, who are described as "unlikely but defiant lovers" and "soulmates". Alobar is a powerful and chiselled 8th-century king who escapes regicide and embarks on a quest for immortality. He is also referred to as a "medieval chieftain king" and a "Dark Ages king-peasant-philosopher". Alobar's human qualities are evident in his fear of death and his determination to extend his life.
Kudra is a Hindu girl from India who Alobar meets and consoles after she witnesses a heinous widow committing suttee. She becomes Alobar's beloved and together they travel through time and geography, mastering the art of immortality and creating perfumes. Their relationship and shared desire for eternal life make them intriguing and relatable characters.
Another important character is Priscilla, a sexually frustrated "genius waitress" in Seattle who is trying to invent a perfume. She is described as a "misfit" and a "part-time waitress and amateur perfumer". Priscilla's human qualities are evident in her rejection of her co-worker Ricki's sexual advances and her affair with the eccentric Irish philosopher, Dr. Dannyboy Wiggs. She is also curious and determined in her pursuit of creating the perfect scent.
Dr. Dannyboy Wiggs is a mysterious Irish philosopher and swindler who runs the Last Laugh Foundation, a Seattle-based organisation dedicated to the quest for immortality. He is described as "eccentric" and "wacky", and his character adds a layer of humour and absurdity to the novel.
Other notable characters include Madame Devalier, a once-successful perfumer in New Orleans; V'lu, her assistant; and Claude and Marcel LeFever, a pair of French cousins from a long line of industrial perfumers. These characters, along with Alobar and Kudra, come together in unexpected ways, creating a zany and entertaining narrative that explores themes of immortality, humour, individuality, and love.
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Exploration of scent, floral consciousness, and immortality
Jitterbug Perfume, the fourth novel by American writer Tom Robbins, explores the themes of scent, "floral consciousness", and immortality through two interweaving storylines, one in Ancient Eurasia and one in the present day.
The first plotline follows various parfumiers around the world in their attempts to create a jasmine-based perfume that will surpass any other. Madame Devalier in New Orleans, her adopted daughter Priscilla in Seattle, and the LeFever company in Paris are all working to create this enchanting fragrance.
In the second plotline, set in the past, King Alobar escapes regicide at the hands of his subjects and embarks on a quest for longevity. He travels through Eurasia and eventually reaches India, where he meets a widow named Kudra. With the help of the goat-god Pan, Alobar and Kudra discover the secret to immortality and learn how to capture it in bottled liquid form. They settle in 17th-century Paris and open a perfume shop, creating a scent to take with them to the New World.
The two plotlines converge when Alobar time-travels to the present, connecting the past and the present as the characters discover an unexpected path to immortality. The exploration of scent is central to the novel, with the creation of perfumes and the use of scent as a means to achieve immortality.
The concept of "floral consciousness" is introduced by Dr. Wiggs Dannyboy, an eccentric outlaw scientist. He adds a new-age theory to the usual flower-power rhetoric of Robbins' novels. The novel also delves into the evolution of a new consciousness, with characters like Marcel LeFever, the "creative nose" of the LeFever Parfumerie, whose ideas on the evolution of a new consciousness unnerve his uncle, the company owner.
Through their practices of controlled breathing, regular fasting, frequent sex, and bathing in hot water, Alobar and Kudra achieve immortality and a connection to floral consciousness, showcasing the interplay between scent, consciousness, and eternal life in the novel.
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Satire, absurdity, and light-hearted blasphemy
Tom Robbins' novel Jitterbug Perfume is a wild, bizarre, and humorous story that combines elements of satire, absurdity, and light-hearted blasphemy to create a unique reading experience.
Satire is a key element of the novel, as Robbins uses wit and humour to critique various aspects of society and human nature. He takes on serious topics such as religion, politics, and the quest for immortality, but approaches them with a playful and satirical tone. For example, the character of Pan, the goat-god, represents humanity's turn away from the physical and natural towards the intellectual and rational. This can be seen as a satirical comment on the modern world's disconnect from nature.
The novel also embraces absurdity, with its zany plotlines and larger-than-life characters. The story follows two interweaving storylines, one set in Ancient Eurasia and the other in the present day, and involves a cast of eccentric characters, including a king-philosopher, a misfit waitress, French cousins from a perfume dynasty, and a mysterious Irish philosopher. The plot involves a quest for immortality, the creation of a legendary perfume, and the appearance of random beets throughout the narrative, adding to the overall absurdity of the story.
Light-hearted blasphemy is also present in the novel, particularly in the way Robbins plays with religious themes and ideas. The character of Pan, for example, is a decrepit god who has lost his powers as the world turns towards Christianity. This light-hearted treatment of religious figures and themes adds to the satirical and absurd tone of the novel.
Robbins' unique style, clever wordplay, and myriad puns contribute to the overall effect of satire, absurdity, and light-hearted blasphemy. His linguistic pyrotechnics and tortuous metaphors create a reading experience that is both entertaining and thought-provoking.
Jitterbug Perfume's blend of satire, absurdity, and light-hearted blasphemy has captivated readers and showcased Robbins' ability to create a world that is both fantastical and relatable, offering a unique perspective on human nature and the quest for immortality.
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Frequently asked questions
Jitterbug Perfume combines realism with fantasy and comedy to tell its tale of intertwined lives across centuries. It has been described as "postmodernism, magic realism, [and] epic moments" all in one. The novel is filled with philosophical musings on the quest for extending life, and the author's wordplay and puns contribute to its postmodern feel.
Jitterbug Perfume follows two interweaving storylines, one in Ancient Eurasia and one in the present day. The story connects perfumers in Seattle, Paris, and New Orleans to a bottle of incomparable perfume created by two unlikely but defiant lovers from the past who seek immortality.
The main characters in Jitterbug Perfume are Alobar, a powerful and chiseled 8th-century king; Kudra, a Hindu girl; Priscilla, a part-time waitress and amateur perfumer; Dr. Dannyboy Wiggs, a philosopher/swindler; and Madame Devalier, the owner of a small perfume shop in New Orleans.
