Chapter 2. Drawn to the Web The Quality of Rhetoric in Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Abstract

ROBERT M. PIRSIG'S VERSION of the field concept derives in part, as his title suggests, from the Zen concept of a fluid, dynamic reality that precedes and eludes verbal formulation. Yet it is also in­ formed by the Western tradition that secs the Word as the ultimate reality. The concern with language that was one of the keynotes of the last chapter is central to Pirsig's attempt to find a rhetoric capable of meeting these conflicting premises . The emphasis on rhetoric is apparent in the "Author's Note" that introduces the narrative. In it, Pirsig claims that "what follows is based on actual occurrences," but adds that "much has been changed for rhetorical purposes." 1 In this ambitious autobiography that is also a novel, 2 three distinct rhetorical strategies are evident: those of the au-