Zen and Art of Motorcycle and Trout Fishing in America

[singlemalt]

Did you read these? Any good? Recommend them?

Speak damn it.

[Zlatko Waterman]

I know others on the board will shriek at me, but I am not a Pirsig lover.

I personally feel that my generation's ( the "60's" ) attachment to "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" has left me out entirely.

I found the book turgid and simplistic when I was twenty, and tiresome and heavy going when I was 57 ( the last time I tried to read it).

I like the idea of exploring "quality" and "gumption." I just wasn't impressed with Mr. Pirsig's essay.

My wife points out that if I'd ever had any children, my sympathy for Pirsig's book might have "matured" better.

Anyway, singlemalt, don't rely on my narrow, jaded view. Try some of the 412 reviews the book has on Amazon.com. Some of them are rather well written:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 7?v=glance

And I'm sure that some of the ZenPirsigBikeHeads on this board will have a fine refutation of what I just said.

God bless differences of opinion.

Otherwise we'd all be like Richard Nixon ( one of the men I love to hate) whose favorite dish included garbanzo puree.



---Z

[Zlatko Waterman]

"Trout Fishing in America" is a fine book. So is "The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster."

But don't neglect other 60's poets like Phillip Levine:

http://www.poemhunter.com/philip-levine/poet-8952/


and his close friend, teaching collegue and sometime disciple, Larry Levis:

http://www.poemhunter.com/larry-levis/poet-11672/


Levis died young, unfortunately.

They both taught at Fresno State, a ghastly school in a ghastly town. But better than Detroit, Levine said at a reading he gave I once attended.


--Z

[abcrystcats]

Hey, I happen to like anything made with garbanzo beans, particularly falafel and hummus.

As for "Zen and the Art of ..." I never got it. My moderate/Libertarian brother liked it, dug it, and urged me to read it. I did, but it was unmemorable.

Same with "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Ex-boyfriend highly recommended it . Read it. Wondered why I bothered. It would have been better if I'd wondered why I bothered with the boyfriend, at that time, but so be it.

can't comment on the other book ...

[Zlatko Waterman]

singlemalt, abcrystcats et al:


I'd like to tack on this link to an interview with a friend of Larry Levis's.

Larry Levis is too good to remain simply a dropped name ( above) without further reference:


http://poetry.about.com/library/weekly/aa121200a.htm



--Z

[bluefire]

There is now (its been out awhile) a new edition, with an introduction by the author,,,, mr. p .... I highly recommend it! If you aren't to bizzy making web pages may be you can find the time to read it.
He helps clear up some of the missunderstandings people have had about the book. Dark shadows- creature of EVIL!

[judih]

thanks, Zlatko, for the about.com link to Larry Levis. Excellent.

About Trout Fishing in America. I found a copy in Camden, Maine 2 yrs ago and loved the cover and the first few chapters. Picked it up about 2 months ago and slowly am reading it backwards. Suits me perfectly.

Zen and the Art used to be available for online reading. (alas, no longer). The concept is cool, and it is slow going. I got the idea and left off in the middle.

judih

[Zlatko Waterman]

Dear Judih:


"slow going" is a good description of Pirsig's book.

I shouldn't have omitted a recommendation to Mr. Malt that he read ( or return to re-read, as I do about every five years) the first three Carlos Castandea books.

For me, they are the essence of the 60's "pop" reading matter.

Castaneda holds up over time for me, particularly the second and third books, the first being more or less a sham academic work, or derived from one.

The first book is mainly of interest to those wanting augmentation for their "brujo" experiences in the form of drugs. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

The second and third books, with their advice about becoming a warrior and a hunter, are zen-like in their simplicity and certainly counter to the mainline Protestant Christian bureacracy in their outlook.

Larry Levis is a bit neglected now, lost in the shadow of his older contemporary , the much-praised Philip Levine. Philip Levine is a marvelous poet, and one of the best voices for the downtrodden and neglected in American society

http://capa.conncoll.edu/levine.ashes.htm


(link to some Levine poems)


But Levis had a clear vision of his own. He and I were just about the same age, separated by only months. I always enjoyed his readings and followed his work. He didn't get quite as much time as I did, and his premature death was a dreadful thing.



Thanks for your reply.


--Zlatko

[Marksman45]

I hugely recommend "Trout Fishing in America." I discovered it after staying the night at a girl's apartment last summer. While waiting for her to wake up that morning, I noticed it on the shelf and read it. It's incredibly delightful and charming and just a wonderful read.

[Marksman45]

Just got "Trout Fishing" "The Pill vs. The Springhill Mine Disaster" and "In Watermelon Sugar" all in one volume today. Lookin' forward to this, a lot

[stilltrucking]

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light, with the possible exception of bad news."
The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

[stilltrucking]

I met Brautigan one day in Fells Point. I mean I was just walking down Broadway and he was coming the other way. It was a bad time for me, I was a bad case in those days, miserable and angry and full of self pity. He looked at me and gave me a beautific smile. All I could do was glare back at him with a hateful look. I may be wrong but I am pretty sure it was him, it was back in the seventies and I am not sure if he was really in Baltimore. I suppose if it did not happen it could of.

The Abortion is an interesting book, I love that library he worked at where people brought the books they had written. Some of them done with crayons.

[knip]

the abortion was my first brautigan...enjoyed it very much

i never met brautigan