Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
Encyclopedia
Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates is Tom Robbins
' seventh and longest novel, first published in 2000
.
Robbins has stated in numerous interviews that in this book he was trying to deal with contradiction. But rather than eschewing his contradictory nature, as is typical Western practice, Switters embraces it. He's a CIA agent who hates the government. He's a pacifist who carries a gun. He's as much in love with his seventeen-year-old stepsister as he is with a forty-six-year-old nun. Switters feels that the core of the universe, the heart of existence, is light and dark existing together. One is not separate from the other, they just exist. This is the core of "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates", along with an interest in the Lady of Fatima and a squawking parrot. The title of the novel comes from Arthur Rimbaud
's A Season in Hell
, in which he daydreams about becoming one of "... ces féroces infirmes retour des pays chauds."
When we first meet Switters he is 35 years old, just returning to visit Maestra in Seattle. His love for her is obvious, as is his having arrogated her somewhat over-inflated manner of speaking. He does anything she asks of him, which is how he ends up in, as he puts it, "South too-damn-vivid America."
Switters abhors the more tedious routines of modern life, which he calls, collectively, "maintenance" - showering, shaving, primping of any kind, and, though he has quite an appetite, especially for red-eye gravy, he can't abide to think of the process of excretion. He does not visualize his internal organs, nor their processes. Instead he envisions his viscera as more of a white ball of healing light. While this may smack of New-Age mysticism, Switters himself is aware of his own self-deception while at the same time reveling in it.
As presumably any other member of a national intelligence office, Switters has a few secrets. His most private is his love of show tunes. In the crocodile-skin valise in which he keeps his laptop and his gun, he also has, in a secret compartment, a CD of Broadway tunes, which he listens to in both his darkest and most joyous moments. He is heard - or overheard - singing lines from of one of Stephen Sondheim
's most famous songs - "Send in the Clowns
".
His primary character trait is his obsession with innocence. He is willing to accept anything that anyone does, so long as it is pure - that it comes from that person's own experience and beliefs, as opposed to simply following orders, instructions, or creed. He cares little for the practice of religion, perceiving it as corrupt, but has studied the Bible
, Qur'an
, and various mythologies
. The exception to this is Zen
, which he practices vaguely for the most part, though he does practice zazen
.
Like many obsessions, his drive for innocence and purity spills over into his love life. Throughout the novel he carries on a very flirtatious - and occasionally salacious - email dialog with his 17-year-old stepsister Suzy. After his visit to South America, he spends some time convalescing in Sacramento at his mother's house, a setting that puts him in dangerously close proximity to the object of his affection, who, despite a bit of hesitation, returns her paramour's attention.
Later in the novel, Switters falls in love with a 46-year-old nun, who, despite her age, Switters finds just as pure as young Suzy.
Tom Robbins
Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins (born July 22, 1936 is an American author. His best-selling novels are serio-comic, often wildly poetic stories with a strong social and philosophical undercurrent, an irreverent bent, and scenes extrapolated from...
' seventh and longest novel, first published in 2000
2000 in literature
The year 2000 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published...
.
Plot introduction
Invalids follows Switters, our wheelchair-using protagonist, across four continents, in and out of love and danger. Through Switters, Robbins "explores, challenges, mocks, and celebrates virtually every major aspect of our mercurial era." (Quote from the hardcover book jacket.)Robbins has stated in numerous interviews that in this book he was trying to deal with contradiction. But rather than eschewing his contradictory nature, as is typical Western practice, Switters embraces it. He's a CIA agent who hates the government. He's a pacifist who carries a gun. He's as much in love with his seventeen-year-old stepsister as he is with a forty-six-year-old nun. Switters feels that the core of the universe, the heart of existence, is light and dark existing together. One is not separate from the other, they just exist. This is the core of "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates", along with an interest in the Lady of Fatima and a squawking parrot. The title of the novel comes from Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
's A Season in Hell
A Season in Hell
Une Saison en Enfer is an extended poem written and published in 1873 by French writer Arthur Rimbaud. It is the only work that was published by Rimbaud himself...
, in which he daydreams about becoming one of "... ces féroces infirmes retour des pays chauds."
Characters
Switters - Switters grew up in Seattle area, raised primarily by Maestra, his grandmother. His mother and father split when he was young, and she remarried to a man with a daughter named Suzy.When we first meet Switters he is 35 years old, just returning to visit Maestra in Seattle. His love for her is obvious, as is his having arrogated her somewhat over-inflated manner of speaking. He does anything she asks of him, which is how he ends up in, as he puts it, "South too-damn-vivid America."
Switters abhors the more tedious routines of modern life, which he calls, collectively, "maintenance" - showering, shaving, primping of any kind, and, though he has quite an appetite, especially for red-eye gravy, he can't abide to think of the process of excretion. He does not visualize his internal organs, nor their processes. Instead he envisions his viscera as more of a white ball of healing light. While this may smack of New-Age mysticism, Switters himself is aware of his own self-deception while at the same time reveling in it.
As presumably any other member of a national intelligence office, Switters has a few secrets. His most private is his love of show tunes. In the crocodile-skin valise in which he keeps his laptop and his gun, he also has, in a secret compartment, a CD of Broadway tunes, which he listens to in both his darkest and most joyous moments. He is heard - or overheard - singing lines from of one of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's most famous songs - "Send in the Clowns
Send in the Clowns
"Send in the Clowns" is a song by Stephen Sondheim from the 1973 musical A Little Night Music, an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer Night. It is a ballad from Act II in which the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life. Among other things, she...
".
His primary character trait is his obsession with innocence. He is willing to accept anything that anyone does, so long as it is pure - that it comes from that person's own experience and beliefs, as opposed to simply following orders, instructions, or creed. He cares little for the practice of religion, perceiving it as corrupt, but has studied the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, and various mythologies
Mythologies
Mythologies is a book by Roland Barthes, published in 1957. It is a collection of essays taken from Les Lettres nouvelles, examining the tendency of contemporary social value systems to create modern myths...
. The exception to this is Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
, which he practices vaguely for the most part, though he does practice zazen
Zazen
In Zen Buddhism, zazen is a meditative discipline practitioners perform to calm the body and the mind, and be able to concentrate enough to experience insight into the nature of existence and thereby gain enlightenment .- Significance :Zazen is considered the heart of Zen Buddhist practice...
.
Like many obsessions, his drive for innocence and purity spills over into his love life. Throughout the novel he carries on a very flirtatious - and occasionally salacious - email dialog with his 17-year-old stepsister Suzy. After his visit to South America, he spends some time convalescing in Sacramento at his mother's house, a setting that puts him in dangerously close proximity to the object of his affection, who, despite a bit of hesitation, returns her paramour's attention.
Later in the novel, Switters falls in love with a 46-year-old nun, who, despite her age, Switters finds just as pure as young Suzy.