One of the books I checked out in support of our Pirsig episode was Mark Richardson's Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
However, this interview by Colin Marshall (note also Marshall's interview with us) has Richardson bringing up a lot of interesting points about Pirsig's biography, particularly regarding Pirsig's mental breakdown (according to Richardson, there was some threatening-the-family-with-a-gun business not brought up in ZAMM that makes it unlikely that the insanity in question was just a matter of a radically rebellious epistemological outlook). Also, we get the point of view of Chris, whom Richardson interviewed: he thought he had a great, up-for-anything attitude, and is annoyed that the book portrays him for all time as a whiner.
Here's the link to Marshall's new podcast, Notebook on Cities and Culture.
-Mark Linsenmayer
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/courses/meta/autobio.htm
My reaction to Zen and Now was very similar to Mark’s and I stopped reading at a certain point too. There’s some interesting gossip but the book isn’t really about Pirsig’s work. It’s more like the story of Richardson’s midlife crisis with Pirsig’s book sort of wrapped around it. It’s not that every book needs to be philosophical, of course, but it sure seems like that one should have been.
Speaking of non-philosophical fun, the “Pirsig pilgrim” phenomenon is interesting. Anthony McWatt and I (along with several others) retraced the ZAMM trip for a documentary back in 2006. (One can get “On The Road with Robert Pirsig at McWatt’s website – robertpirsig.org) The mayor of Miles City was a very fine host to us as we rolled though and the bartender wouldn’t let us pay. It was a riot.
I’ve also been up to Bozeman several times just because my wife has a lot of family up there. In fact, my mother-in-law grew up about three miles from the DeWeese’s old place and she knew Sarah Vinke, the classics professor who’d asked Pirsig if he was teaching Quality. There was a story about the “Pirsig pilgrims” in the Bozeman Newspaper just a few weeks ago. So many people stop by to see the DeWeeses (only their daughter remains, actually) that they have set up a yurt in the back yard for guests. The college has since become a University, they’ve been teaching a course on Pirsig’s work for the last couple years now and a small plaque has been installed in the building where Pirsig used to teach.
David
Those are interesting developments.
However, you should give more credibility to what others know, think, and write. From the book you refused to fully read, Mark correctly pointed out the TRUE fact that Pirsig was a dangerously disturbed man; in a world where we are only 6 degrees removed, I can add credence to this via the experiences my sister-in-law relates concerning her dating Pirsig’s similarly affected brother.
Pirsig’s self-description was not exaggerated. You have a right to your own opinion, but not your own facts.
I disagree on both counts, pirsigfan.
(1) Credibility, like respect, is cheapened when we pass it out too freely. What others thing and write isn’t necessarily credible. If you don’t see all kinds of incredible nonsense every single day, then I think you’re probably not paying attention. Please consider the fact that Richardson is not a philosopher. Last I heard, he writes for automotive section of a Canadian newspaper. According to Richardson’s own account, he went back and added material about Pirsig and Pirsig’s book only after his manuscript was finished. No wonder Pirsig thought it was “missing something”. This is not exactly the stuff that credibility is made of, you know?
(2) Let’s not pretend that Pirsig has painted too rosy a picture of his breakdown. He thinks it’s perfectly legitimate to see it as a psychotic breakdown and he doesn’t dispute those who interpret it that way. In the book itself, he paints a picture of himself that’s very far from pretty. He’s letting cigarettes burn down into his fingers, he’s urinating on himself and his family is terrified. It would have been even uglier with the gun but it would have been too pretty with the Orpheus story. I’d call that a wash and I’d say the final result a reasonably fair telling, especially considering the nature of the book.