Reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Course Description

In this discussion-based literature course, we will read and explore what many have considered to be one of the most important philosophic works of the last century:  Robert Pirsig’s novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Although fundamentally a philosophic work, the novel struck a chord in the mid-20th century psyche and became a publishing phenomenon. It has now been translated into 25 different languages and has sold over 5 million copies. Why?

On its surface, the novel is a semi-autobiographical account of a motorcycle journey taken by a father and his 11-year-old son across the northwestern United States. Pirsig uses the narrative of this physical journey as a backdrop for other journeys—a man’s harrowing descent into madness and struggle toward recovery, and a voyage of reconciliation between a father and son. Moreover, he weaves the interplay of these journeys into an exploration of an ideological conflict in Western culture that has generated an opposition and hostility between science and technology on the one hand, and the creative arts and humanities on the other. 

In the novel, Pirsig recounts how the narrator’s exploration of this conflict led to his own psychological turmoil and, in turn, his alienation from his son. He then suggests a possible resolution to this conflict—one that enables the narrator to overcome his own mental illness and begin to bridge the distance between himself and his son. Can this resolution perhaps offer a similar remedy in contemporary culture? Does Pirsig’s message still ring true now, fifty years later? Despite the popularity of his novel, has any progress been made in addressing the issues he highlights, or the malaise he perceived embedded in the heart of contemporary Western culture? 

Books to purchase: 

Pirsig, Robert. Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. 

Course Details