Still Life with Woodpecker

Frogs appear at various times throughout the novel. What does the frog signify in Still Life with Woodpecker, and how do its different manifestations differ in meaning?

Discuss Robbins’s use of the author as a character. Why does Robbins adopt this strategy? How are these passages significant? How do they contribute to the meaning of the novel?

Although Gulietta is presented as a side character, she is involved in many aspects of the story. Analyze the role of Gulietta. How does her character development deepen the themes of the novel?

Analyze Robbins’s use of fairy tale elements in the novel. Use evidence from the text to show how this approach amplifies meaning.

How does humor function as an element of the narrative? How does Robbins use it to deal with serious topics?

At the end of the novel, Leigh-Cheri tells Bernard, “I’ve found a way to make love stay” (251). What does she mean by this? Use evidence from the text to support your assertions.

Robbins regularly juxtaposes the sun and moon, ascribing “solar” and “lunar” characteristics to concepts like journalism (solar) and poetry (lunar) and the Yellow Hairs (solar) and Red Beards (lunar). What is the significance of these comparisons or categories? What do the sun and moon represent?

Discuss either the trope of the princess, or that of the outlaw. Consider how the trope is used, supported, or subverted in the novel and how that use deepens and complicates meaning.