RE: MD Lila's Child - A question for Dan Glover

From: Tim Chizmar (robertpirsigfan@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed May 04 2005 - 00:30:59 BST

  • Next message: Arlo J. Bensinger: "Re: MD Access to Quality"

    Yes, that does help.
     
    I guess I was looking at it with a very serious and sincere feeling that all the contributers (with the assistance of Robert Pirsig) managed to disect and figure out more about MOQ and that was just the truth.
     
     I can see how this can be seen as a ficticious mind wandering activity by some (although it pains me to stretch that far) since I see LILA as more gospel. The ideas and depth presented in Pirsig's writing were like nothing else I'd ever experienced. I have revisited the book many times (I have notes all over it) since that first reading and I study it regularly along with all four books.
     
     I guess I had been thinking of the MOQ as this...
     
    Robert Pirsig broke new ground... and it is very real. We who understand and can see are meant to spread his lessons and insight to the masses. By calling the compilation non fiction would mean for the readers to fully understand that LILA does not end with that collection of pages but goes on. His novel is meant to teach us.
     
    MOQ to me was an open doorway...
     
    But now I understand that there is much more dissecting and discussion meant to arise among intellectuals before it can be consumed by others
     
    ......especially the normal people who follow no more than what is presented on television.
     
    Thank you Dan for clearing this up for me. And for the other gentleman who added the heading.
     
    I only have one other pressing question... is there any event or retreat that goes on for followers of MOQ? Something I could attend, a place to discuss in person with others?
     
     I have found no mention of such event on your site (I doubt I'd be the first to suggest this) and my sister and I have been very eager to discuss Pirsig among like minded friends....
     
    Please let me know. Thank you.
     

    Dan Glover <daneglover@hotmail.com> wrote:
    Hello everyone

    >From: "Ant McWatt"
    >Reply-To: moq_discuss@moq.org
    >To: moq_discuss@moq.org
    >Subject: MD Lila's Child - A question for Dan Glover
    >Date: Tue, 03 May 2005 10:08:43 +0000
    >
    >Tim Chizmar asked May 2nd 2005:
    >
    >I am not sure if this is the proper area to ask this.... but I do have an
    >important Pirsigian question.
    >I have read, studied and currently love both of Pirsig's tomes. Spent my
    >summer studying LILA actually.... But in my wanting to take his ideas and
    >even those of you philosophers as possible truth,..... I see one problem.
    >
    >Why is "Lila's Child" marked as a fiction novel?
    >
    >
    >Ant McWatt comments:
    >
    >Tim,
    >
    >As one of the people whose old MOQ Discuss posts were used throughout
    >"Lila's Child", I also wondered why "Lila's Child" is marked as a novel as
    >only the editor's introduction could possibly be fictional in any sense of
    >the term. Pirsig's introduction and contributions and the contributions
    >from the people on MOQ Discuss are all non-fictional.
    >
    >Dan Glover, the compiler and editor of the text will know. With a bit of
    >luck the re-titling of this thread will alert him to your question,

    Hi Tim, Ant

    Thank you for drawing this to my attention, Ant. I've been busy, have much
    reading from moq.org to catch up on, and I did miss Tim's original question.
    To answer ... here are some definitions of "fiction" from dictionary.com:

    1. a. An imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent
    actuality but has been invented.

    b. The act of inventing such a creation or pretense.

    2. a. A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is
    not necessarily based on fact.

    b. The category of literature comprising works of this kind, including
    novels and short stories

    In addtion there is this:

    Word History: To most people “the latest fiction” means the latest novels or
    stories rather than the most recently invented pretense or latest lie. All
    three senses of the word fiction point back to its source, Latin ficti, “the
    action of shaping, a feigning, that which is feigned.” Ficti in turn was
    derived from fingere, “to make by shaping, feign, make up or invent a story
    or excuse.” Our first instance of fiction, recorded in a work composed
    around 1412, was used in the sense “invention of the mind, that which is
    imaginatively invented.” It is not a far step from this meaning to the sense
    “imaginative literature,” first recorded in 1599.

    Dan Glover comments:

    If a person were to look at Lila's Child as non-fiction, everything said
    therein could be taken as truthful, set in stone (so to speak), and
    unchanging. However, it's clear that everything contained in LC is instead
    provisional and subject to change should something better come along. So it
    seemed best to classify LC as a fictional body of work despite the fact that
    real people wrote it. I'm not saying Lila's Child is a made up or invented
    story but rather it's an invention of the mind and not a so-called objective
    truth as a non-fiction designation would imply.

    I hope this answers your question and I welcome any further comments.

    Thank you,

    Dan

    MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
    Mail Archives:
    Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
    Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
    MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net

    To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
    http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html

    __________________________________________________
    Do You Yahoo!?
    Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
    http://mail.yahoo.com

    MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
    Mail Archives:
    Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
    Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
    MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net

    To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
    http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed May 04 2005 - 00:58:48 BST