Robert M. Pirsig, Author Of Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, Dies At 88
Author Robert M. Pirsig died at his home today in South Berwick, Maine, he was 88 years old. Pirsig, best known for his philosophical work of non-fiction, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, An Inquiry Into Values, first published in 1974, spoke to a post-Vietnam/Watergate generation searching for truth and meaning during a tumultuous decade.
The book follows Pirsig and his son, Chris, on a motorcycle journey into a metaphysical landscape as the author pursues the meaning of, “Quality,” an elusive qualitative measure in an increasingly quantifiable world. Along the way he examines Plato, sophists, the pre-Socratics, and eastern philosophy, as well as the nature of condensers, mechanical points, and shims fabricated from discarded cans in his search for the good.
He humbly summarized his philosophical treatise-cum-motorcycle road trip in his author’s note, “What follows is based on actual occurrences. Although much has been changed for rhetorical purposes, it must be regarded in its essence as fact. However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It’s not very factual on motorcycles, either.” He begins his tale by telling you what his book isn’t thus inviting the reader to take the journey with him and answer the question for themselves, “What is good?”
Pirsig endeavored to show us.
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Several publications did brief obituaries of Mr Pirsig on the occasion of his passing. The New York Times provided some insight about his circumstances around the time he wrote the book, as well as about his life. In essence, it took him more than four years to complete the book, motorcycling being just a pretense for his philosophical musings on "quality". The trip took place after Mr Pirsig had battled schizophrenia and had suffered through treatments, including electro shock therapy. Chris, pictured and 11 at the time of the trip, would also suffer of mental disorders in his early adulthood and would end up institutionalized. He was stabbed in a mugging and died in 1979 age 22. Mr. Pirsig wrote only one other book, a follow up of sorts; Lila, an inquiry into morals.
R.I.P.😫😞🐲