NEW YORK (Reuters) - Robert M. Pirsig, author of the influential 1970s philosophical novel “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” died on Monday at the age of 88, his publisher said. Loosely autobiographical, it also contained flashbacks to a period in which the author was diagnosed as schizophrenic. His philosophical thinking and personal experiences during these years, including a 1968 motorcycle trip across the U.S. West with his eldest son, Christopher, formed the core of the narrative of the novel. Pirsig worked on the sequel, “Lila: An Inquiry into Morals” for 17 years before its publication in 1991. The story traced a sailboat journey taken by two fictitious characters along America’s eastern coast.

Source: Huffington Post April 25, 2017 05:40 UTC