From: jhmau (jhmau@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Nov 16 2002 - 20:42:48 GMT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt the Enraged Endorphin" <mpkundert@students.wisc.edu>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
> John,
>
> >The idea that Pirsig will be
> >recognised in 50 years is a gross distortion of the
> >nature of longevity and a worrying aspect of a fan
> >club that strives to be something other.
>
> Gross distortion? I think you're being a little naive if you think
> Pirsig's just going to disappear. For instance, why hasn't Pirsig
> disappeared in the last, say, 28 years? Why pick now as your starting
> point for a disappearing act rather then when ZMM came out? The easy
> answer is that ZMM has been so wildly popular for so long that, to say the
> former, you wouldn't have a leg to stand on. The publishers had a major
> re-releasing after 10 years, 20 years, and again only 5 years after the
> 20th anniversery and its still selling well today. So, who exactly are we
> talking about?
>
> Along Camusian lines, if you're saying that, given enough time, everybody
> will be forgotten, then of course, you're right. If you think that by
2052
> the general public will have forgotten about Pirsig, you may be right.
But
> if you are talking about academia, then I don't think so. After all, what
> do you think cultural historians do all day? Read books from 50 years ago
> that nobody else read? No, they read the popular books of the time, the
> books that affected people. The lasting popularity of this book I think
is
> a pretty good indicator that cultural historians will be taking a hard
look
> at why Pirsig was so popular and what lasting effect he had. I know I've
> talked to enough people who were moved by the book, more then a few moved
> straight into philosophy as a discipline, to think that he's had an
effect.
> I said as much to Richard Rorty, after taking a page out of 3WD's book
and
> just e-mailing him. Rorty's moving into comparative literature and
> intellectual history and he claims to have never understood why Pirsig's
> book was so popular, so who better to start with when scoping the general
> trends and movements of culture? If you don't understand Pirsig's
> popularity, then the book must be tapping into something that you're
> neglecting.
>
> I have few doubts that Pirsig will eventually be taught to college
students
> in American Cultural and Intellectual History survey courses. He's
already
> a favorite for many people who teach Intro philosophy courses. ZMM has
> been refered to as "the most widely read philosophy book, ever." And
being
> as the general trend is for more and more people to attend college, I
think
> there's a decent chance of Pirsig's book continuing to impact the general
> public. In fact, my bet is that until people assimilate the general
> outlines of his message, it will continue to be popular with people who
> aren't happy with the way things are. After the assimilation, it may fall
> off in popularity, people not receiving the same impact anymore, but not
so
> with the cultural historians. They'll still be there to mark the events.
>
> And as for this "fan club," if everything I say is accurate, then this
> site, if it lasts long enough (literally, in the case of it not
> disappearing from the net), will be an artifact of Pirsig's popularity
and,
> therefore, an object of study for cultural historians. After all,
Pirsig's
> left very little in writing and he's referenced this site in the latest
> re-issue of ZMM, so this might be a first stop for historians. So, mark
> what you say well. You may end up one day in a American history course.
>
> Matt
Well, Dahling! Really?
joe
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