Robert M. Pirsig "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" Signed Limited Edition w/COA [Sealed]

Personally signed by Robert M. Pirsig directly onto the special title page.

Easton Press, Norwalk, CT. 2000. Robert M. Pirsig "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values". From the Signed Modern Classics series, luxuriously bound in full genuine leather. Signed by the author on a special title page. Signed Collector's Edition. Includes the original COA and collector's notes as issued by the publisher. Sealed.

First published in 1974, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a work of philosophical fiction, the first of Robert M. Pirsig's texts in which he explores his Metaphysics of Quality. The book sold 5 million copies worldwide. It was originally rejected by 121 publishers, more than any other bestselling book, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

The book is generally regarded as an American cultural icon in literature.




About the book

One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live . . . and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Here is the book that transformed a generation: an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father and his young son. A story of love and fear -- of growth, discovery, and acceptance -- that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence . . . and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.

About the author

Robert Maynard Pirsig (September 6, 1928 – April 24, 2017) was an American writer and philosopher. He was the author of the philosophical novels Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974) and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991), and he co-authored On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Selected and Unpublished Writings (2022) along with his wife (now widow) and editor, Wendy Pirsig.

In 1958, he became a professor at Montana State University in Bozeman, and taught creative writing courses for two years. Shortly thereafter he taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Pirsig's published writing consists most notably of two books. The better known, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, delves into Pirsig's exploration into the nature of quality. Ostensibly a first-person narrative based on a motorcycle trip he and his young son Chris had taken from Minneapolis to San Francisco, it is an exploration of the underlying metaphysics of Western culture. He also gives the reader a short summary of the history of philosophy, including his interpretation of the philosophy of Aristotle as part of an ongoing dispute between universalists, admitting the existence of universals, and the Sophists, opposed by Socrates and his student Plato. Pirsig finds in "Quality" a special significance and common ground between Western and Eastern world views.

Pirsig had great difficulty finding a publisher for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Pirsig pitched the idea for his book to 121 different publishers, sending them a cover letter along with two sample pages, with 22 responding favorably. Ultimately, an editor at William Morrow accepted the finished manuscript; when he did, his publisher's internal recommendation stated, "This book is brilliant beyond belief, it is probably a work of genius, and will, I'll wager, attain classic stature."[13] In his book review, George Steiner compared Pirsig's writing to Dostoevsky, Broch, Proust, and Bergson, stating that "the assertion itself is valid ... the analogies with Moby-Dick are patent".

Pirsig described the development of his ideas and writing his book in a videotaped lecture that can be viewed on YouTube. The talk was at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design on May 20, 1974. A transcript of this talk also appears as the introduction to On Quality: An Inquiry into Excellence, a 2022 book of Pirsig's unpublished and selected writings.

In 1974, Pirsig was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to allow him to write a follow-up, Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991), in which he developed a value-based metaphysics, Metaphysics of Quality, that challenges our subject–object view of reality. The second book, this time "the captain" of a sailboat, follows on from where Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance left off.

Pirsig was vice-president of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center from 1973 to 1975 and also served on the board of directors.

Reviews

“An unforgettable trip.” (Time)

“The book is inspired, original. . . . The analogies with Moby-Dick are patent.” (The New Yorker)

“Profoundly important...full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas.” (New York Times)

“It is filled with beauty. . .a finely made whole that seems to emanate from a very special grace.” (Baltimore Sun)

“A miracle . . . sparkles like an electric dream.” (The Village Voice) From the Publisher The extraordinary story of a man's quest for truth. It will change the way you think and feel about your life.

"The cycle you're working on is a cycle called 'yourself.'"

"The study of the art of motorcycle maintainance is really a study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon." -- Robert M. Pirsig

"Profoundly important... full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas... It is intellectual entertainment of the highest order." -- The New York Times

"It lodges in the mind as few recent novels have... The book is inspired, original... As the mountains gentle toward the sea--with father and child locked in a ghostly grip--the narrative tact, the perfect economy of effect defy criticism... The analogies with Moby Dick are patent. Robert Pirsig invites the prodigious comparison... What more can one say?" -- The New Yorker

"It's a miracle.. sparkles like an electric dream. Freshness, originality... that seduces you into loving motorcycles, as tender in their pistons as the petals in the Buddah's dawn lotus." -- The Village Voice --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

The extraordinary story of a man's quest for truth. It will change the way you think and feel about your life.

"The cycle you're working on is a cycle called 'yourself.'"

"The study of the art of motorcycle maintainance is really a study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon." -- Robert M. Pirsig --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

"Profoundly important... full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas... It is intellectual entertainment of the highest order." -- The New York Times

"It lodges in the mind as few recent novels have... The book is inspired, original... As the mountains gentle toward the sea--with father and child locked in a ghostly grip--the narrative tact, the perfect economy of effect defy criticism... The analogies with Moby Dick are patent. Robert Pirsig invites the prodigious comparison... What more can one say?" -- The New Yorker

"It's a miracle.. sparkles like an electric dream. Freshness, originality... that seduces you into loving motorcycles, as tender in their pistons as the petals in the Buddah's dawn lotus." -- The Village Voice --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.