Robert Pirsig Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Robert Pirsig
OCCUPATION: Educator, Philosopher, Journalist
BIRTH DATE: September 06, 1928 (Age: 84)
EDUCATION: University of Minnesota
PLACE OF BIRTH: Minneapolis, Minnesota
ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo

Best Known For

American author Robert Pirsig is best known for his philosophical novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974).

Quiz

Think you know about Biography?

Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.

Play Now

Print Cite This

Robert Maynard Pirsig

APA Style

Robert Maynard Pirsig. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 10:33, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/robert-pirsig-9542355.

Harvard Style

Robert Maynard Pirsig. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-pirsig-9542355 [Accessed 23 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Robert Maynard Pirsig." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 10:33 http://www.biography.com/people/robert-pirsig-9542355.

MHRA Style

"Robert Maynard Pirsig," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/robert-pirsig-9542355 [accessed May 23, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Robert Maynard Pirsig," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/robert-pirsig-9542355 (accessed May 23, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Robert Maynard Pirsig [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-pirsig-9542355.

Bluebook Style

Robert Maynard Pirsig, http://www.biography.com/people/robert-pirsig-9542355 (last visited May 23, 2013).

AMA Style

Robert Maynard Pirsig. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-pirsig-9542355. Accessed May 23, 2013.

Synopsis

Robert Pirsig rose rapidly to fame with his autobiographical novel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974). The book chronicled the motorcycle journey of the narrator who ruminates on philosophical approaches to life, arguing that motorcycle maintenance is a metaphor for life. The book became a cult classic, selling more than 4 million copies in the next 25 years.

Profile

Writer. Born September 6, 1928, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Pirsig, the son of a Minnesota law professor, rose rapidly to fame with his autobiographical novel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974). The book chronicled the motorcycle journey of the narrator, a former philosophy professor who underwent involuntary electrical shock treatment for alleged insanity, across the country with his 11-year-old son. During his journey, the narrator ruminates on philosophical approaches to life, arguing that motorcycle maintenance is a metaphor for life. Along the way, he heals a deep emotional rift with his son.

The book was rejected by more than 120 publishing houses before it was published by William Morrow and Company in 1974. Robert Pirsig received only a $3,000 advance and was warned that the book would probably bomb. It became a cult classic, selling more than 4 million copies in the next 25 years. Tragically, Pirsig?s son was stabbed to death in a mugging 10 years after the book came out.

After the book?s publication, Pirsig spent several years living on a boat and traveling the world. In 1991, he published Lila, another deeply philosophical novel.