History Literature / ZenAndTheArtOfMotorcycleMaintenance

* RantInducingSlight: The Narrator was kicked out of a philosophy program, possibly for mocking the professors. Many parts of the book are him ranting about their inability to appreciate his genius.

'''Tropes:'''

It's a book about a lot of things, but the narrative that gives it structure follows a father and son's cross-country motorcycle trip in 1968. The story is semi-autobiographical and presented strictly from the father's point of view as they travel. It is the nature of traveling by motorcycle for there to be long periods of time in which conversation is impossible and so the reader is privy to the musings, observations, and memories of the father between stops in conveniently chapter-length essays he calls "Chautauquas."

* RantInducingSlight: Pirsig was kicked out of a philosophy program, possibly for mocking the professors. Many parts of the book are him ranting about their inability to appreciate his genius.

* EverythingsBetterWithMotorcycles: The Narrator is convinced of this.
-->''You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through a car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.''\\
\\
''On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're '''in''' the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness.''

* RoadMovie: Lost in DevelopmentHell, so we'll probably never see it filmed, but the spirit is there.

* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: The Narrator is very intelligent, but has difficulty relating to people including his wife.

* MeaningfulName: The Narrator refers to the person he used to be as "Phaedrus" -- that is to say, Socrates' opponent in Creator/{{Plato}}'s dialogue of the same name.

* UnreliableNarrator: The Narrator

* InspiredBy: Pirsig claims in his Author's Note that it is based on true events, and many of the details (e.g. [[spoiler:Pirsig having been submitted to electro-convulsive therapy]]) are genuine.

->"It should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either."
--> '''Bob Pirsig''', Author

* MeaningfulName: The Narrator refers to the person he used to be as "Phaedrus" -- that is to say, Socrates' opponent in Creator/{{Plato}}'s dialogue of the same name.

* AllBikersAreHellsAngels - Completely averted. The Narrator is a writer for industrial manuals who's traveling with his young son and family friends the Sutherlands, who are Minneapolis artists.
* EverythingsBetterWithMotorcycles - A truism.
* HorribleCampingTrip - The Narrator's son Chris declares.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation - The Narrator is very intelligent, but has difficulty relating to people including his wife.
* OldFriend - The Narrator staying with old friends in Bozeman, Montana.
* MeaningfulName - Phaedrus
* RoadMovie - Lost in DevelopmentHell, so we'll probably never see it filmed, but the spirit is there.

* ScienceIsBad - The Sutherlands' worldview.
* SplitPersonalityTakeover - [[spoiler:The Narrator vs Phaedrus and vice-versa]]
* ThePhilosopher - The Narrator
* UnreliableNarrator - The Narrator
* [[TheJoyOfX Zen and the Art of X]] - Trope Namer
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* AuthorTract: Large portions of the Chautauquas are attacks on atheism.