Tom Robbins’ Jitterbug PerfumeIn his 1984 novel Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins presents a narrative that rivals the often fantastical tales told in myth. Using classical mythology as a foundation, and, in particular, providing a loose adaptation of The Odyssey by Homer, Robbins updates and modifies characters and concepts in an effort to reinforce the importance of the journey of life and the discovery of self. Like the ancient myth-makers, Robbins commands the reader’s attention with outrageous situations and events while at the same time providing characters that the reader can relate to and learn from.
Jitterbug Perfume is a story of epic proportions, spanning a time-frame of almost one thousand years. The protagonist, Alobar, is first encountered sometime in the eleventh century as a king in Bohemia. Alobar rebels against the custom of his tribe that condemns their ruler to death upon the appearance of his first grey hair. He escapes this premature and arbitrary demise, and much of the novel follows Alobar’s adventures over the next ten centuries as he continues to avoid death. On the way, he encounters Kudra, the love of his life, the god Pan, and, eventually, the other important, modern-day characters in the novel. Their stories all converge in the twentieth century in a series of chance meetings. These present-day encounters revolve around the search for the secret ingredient to the perfect perfume, and involve the presence of a vegetable, the beet.
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The structure of Jitterbug Perfume contains many similarities to the structure of The Odyssey. In a manner reminiscent of Homer’s opening entreaty to a Muse, Tom Robbins begins Jitterbug Perfume with a treatise on the beet. While Homer calls on the Muse to help…
…e, and their reunion is imminent at the end of the novel. Both have achieved success in defining themselves as independent, successful individuals. They have proven themselves to be heroes, and, as with Odysseus and Penelope, anima and animus are reunited (Harris and Platzner 358).
Works Cited
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With A Thousand Faces. 10th ed. New York: MJF, 1949.
Easton, Tom. “The Reference Library.” Rev. of Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins.
Analog Science Fiction/ Science Fact. Aug. 1985: 178.
Harris, Stephen L., and Gloria Platzner. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. 2nd ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 1995
Hoyser, Catherine E., and Lorena Laura Stookey. Tom Robbins. Westport CN: Greenwood, 1997
Robbins, Tom. Jitterbug Perfume. Bantam: New York, 1985.
Whitmer, Peter O. “Cosmic Comedian.” Saturday Review Jan/Feb. 1985: 50-55.
