Author Robert M. Pirsig Dies at 88

Robert M. Pirsig, whose mid-1970s critically acclaimed novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance achieved explosive popularity for nearly a decade, died Monday at the age of 88. His publisher announced his death and explained that Pirsig had long been suffering from declining health. He had lived in Maine for the past three decades. His famous novel touched on the relationship between humans and machines, as well as the roots of culture, and sold millions of copies, staying near the top of many best-seller lists for nearly 10 years. “There is such a thing as a zeitgeist, and I believe the book was popular because there were a lot of people who wanted a reconciliation—even if they didn’t know what they were looking for,” said sociologist Todd Gitlin, in a 2013 interview for Pirsig’s New York Times obituary. “Pirsig provided a kind of soft landing from the euphoric stratosphere of the late ’60s into the real world of adult life.”