Pirsig, Robert M(aynard)

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | 693 words | Copyright

Pirsig, Robert M[aynard] (1928–), philosopher, novelist. Pirsig taught English at Montana State before publishing Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), which recounts a cross‐country trip of the narrator Phaedrus with his young son. Interspersed in the travel narrative are meditations on madness, Plato, and quality. The book built a cult following. After long silence Pirsig published Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991). The narrative concerns Phaedrus on a sailboat trip around America and his adventures with a woman picked up on the voyage. Phaedrus formulates a metaphysics of quality, with ob‐servations on sex, human rights, and, once again, madness.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Pirsig, Robert M(aynard)." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Pirsig, Robert M(aynard)." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-PirsigRobertMaynard.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Pirsig, Robert M(aynard)." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-PirsigRobertMaynard.html

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