About this item
Zen and Now is a vivid chronicle of a journalist's heartfelt and determined journey to reconnect with a beloved American classic.In 1968, Robert Pirsig and his eleven-year-old son, Chris, made the cross-country motorcycle trip that would become the inspiration for Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a powerful blend of personal narrative and philosophical investigation that has inspired generations.Among the millions of readers to fall under the book's spell was Mark Richardson, who as a young man struggled to understand Pirsig's provocative and elusive ideas. Rereading the book decades later, Richardson, now a journalist and a father of two, was moved by its portrayal of Pirsig's complex relationship with Chris and struck by the timelessness of its lessons.
About the Author
Mark Richardson lives and works in Kyoto, Japan. He grew up in South Carolina & Georgia, was educated at the University of South Carolina & at Rutgers University; he taught for ten years at Western Michigan University before moving, in 2003, to Kyoto, where he now teaches at Doshisha University.
His books include The Ordeal of Robert Frost (Illinois, 1997) , and, as editor or contributing editor, Robert Frost: Poetry, Prose and Plays (with Richard Poirier) (Library of America, 1995) ; The Collected Prose of Robert Frost (Harvard 2007) ; The Letters of Robert Frost, Volume I: 1886-1920 (Harvard, February 2014) , and Robert Frost in Context (Cambridge, April 2014) .
He maintains a web-log devoted to literature and literary criticism:
http://eraofcasualfridays.net/
