Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
First edition
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| Author | Robert M. Pirsig |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Philosophical fiction, Autobiographical novel |
| Published | March 13, 1974 (William Morrow and Company) |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 418 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 673595 |
| 917.3/04/920924 B | |
| LC Class | CT275.P648 A3 1974 |
| Followed by | Lila: An Inquiry into Morals |
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (ZAMM), by Robert M. Pirsig, is a book that was first published in 1974. It is a work of fictionalized autobiography, and is the first of Pirsig's texts in which he explores his Metaphysics of Quality.
The title is an apparent play on the title of the book Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. In its introduction, Pirsig explains that, despite its title, "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."
Initially, the book sold at least 5 million copies worldwide.
According to Edward Abbey, the book is Pirsig's fictionalized autobiography of a 17-day journey he made on a motorcycle from Minnesota to Northern California along with his son Chris. The story of this journey is recounted in a first-person narrative, although the author is not identified. Father and son are also accompanied, for the first nine days of the trip, by close friends John and Sylvia Sutherland, with whom they part ways in Montana. The trip is punctuated by numerous philosophical discussions, referred to as Chautauquas by the author, on topics including epistemology, ethical emotivism and the philosophy of science.
Many of these discussions are tied together by the story of the narrator's own past self, who is referred to in the third person as Phaedrus (after Plato's dialogue). Phaedrus, a teacher of creative and technical writing at a small college, became engrossed in the question of what defines good writing, and what in general defines good, or "Quality". His philosophical investigations eventually drove him insane, and he was subjected to electroconvulsive therapy, which permanently changed his personality.
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