On Wed, 12 Apr 2000 17:17:26 -0400 "Richard Budd" <rmb007Q1@hotmail.com>
writes:
> JEFF:
> " The Library of
> > Congress publication data lists the book as being
> autobiographical. Not
> > that this means much. I've been in a library that Dewey decimaled
> the
> > book under: Montana; travel. I've recommended the book to a friend
> who
> > teaches sociology at a community college in Pennsylvania. He used
> the
> > chapter on motorcycle tools as a guide for buying automobile
> equipment."
>
> RICK:
> Strange as this may (or may not) seem to others in this group it is
> my
> opinion that ZMM is not, never was, and never will be a work of
> philosophy.
> I've always thought of ZMM as a semiautobiographical account of a
> man trying
> rebuild his relationship to his son after a breakdown and slow
> recovery.
> The "philosophy" is the "bad guy" in the story. It's what destroyed
> Phaedrus, and it's what is destroying the narrator's relationship to
> Chris.
> We get this great juxtaposition of a brilliant "philosopher" who is
> unraveling the mysteries of the universe in his head, while at the
> same time
> he can't figure out how to talk his son, his friends don't
> understand him,
> his peers don't respect him...etc. This was the beauty of ZMM to
> me---
> Phaedrus has the order the universe in his hands while his own
> universe
> continuously falls apart around him. OVERTHINKERS BEWARE--- those
> answers
> you seek may not be as valuable as you think.
>
> JEFF:
> "I discern an anti woman bias in "Lila" as well.
>
> RICK:
> I've heard people mention this before and I still don't see it.
> Granted
> Lila (the character, not the book) is no compliment to feminsm---
> but I
> don't see anywhere that Pisig says all women are like Lila (I
> strongly doubt
> he would). Now we're into literary criticism--- Is Lila supposed to
> represent all women, or all just all women like Lila. I suspect the
> latter.
>
> JEFF:
> > Page 128 offers the interesting little phrase, "cells coordinating
> > senses." Introspection shows us that the senses are uncoordinated.
> Look
> > at that car coming down the street. Listen to its engine. Wait a
> second!
> > The speed of light is so much greater than the speed of sound that
> the
> > car you see cannot be the car you hear
>
> RICK:
> And yet, you somehow know those visions and sounds are coming from
> the same
> car. Sounds like somekind of coordination to me.
>
> It's all good,
> Rick
>
Dear Rick,
You are a wise man (which only means that I agree with you). Now, how do
we convince the others? As for the "coordinated car," it seems less to me
a coordination than a mental compromise. Help me! Phaedrus is trying to
insinuate himself in my mind. Semantics!
Though ZMM has been one of my all time favorite reads, I must admit I
wouldn't be comfortable in Pirsig's company. His efforts at relating to
people are pitiful. Chris' enrollment in a Zen community must have been a
real eye-opener for him. Sad that it was no help to him in the outside
world.
I identify most with the "glass door" conversation between Pirsig &
Chris that is the emotional climax of the book. Chris knew what was
troubling him all along, he had no opportunity to put it into words. I
wonder if Chris was raised in a "children should be seen but not heard"
atmosphere as I was. At age 3, I had convulsions & was put behind my own
glass door. Anyway, from page 405 when Pirsig tells his son he's afraid
of going insane to page 408 when Pirsig tells his son that he was never
insane, the book has electricity for me.
It is,
Jeff
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