Author of the 1970s cult bestseller Zen and the Art of Motorcycle MaintenanceWhen, in 1968, Robert Pirsig, who has died aged 88, sent a synopsis and sample of his novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to 122 publishers, only one showed any interest, and James Landis, the editor who responded from William Morrow, warned him not to expect either a large advance or big sales. But within a month Pirsig set off on his Honda Super Hawk, accompanied by his young son, Chris, and friends John and Sylvia Sutherland, on the 17-day journey from Minneapolis to San Francisco that, six years, two drafts and some 700,000 words later, became the basis of an immediate bestseller. Millions of readers were drawn to this guidebook for the transition of a culture from the rebellious 1960s to the “me generation” of the 70s.George Steiner’s New Yorker review, titled Uneasy Rider, famously compared the book to Herman Melville’s sprawling masterpiece Moby-Dick; other reviewers mentioned Thoreau, whose American transcendentalism also sought to link everyday life and the metaphysical. In a road novel in the spirit of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Pirsig drew on the aphoristic humour of hippy writers such as Richard Brautigan. “Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a 30,000-page menu and no food,” he wrote. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2017-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#american transcendentalism
#jack kerouac
The recent v-p for finance and administration at Vassar College has been tapped as CEO of the professional trade association representing the $10 billion collegiate retailing industry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
British author and comedian Louise Rennison, whose books about teenager Georgia Nicolson were bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic, has died. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#louise rennison
#british author
An intellectual property lawyer and former general counsel at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Bursley died on January 30. She was 61. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#general counsel
Hillel Black, former publisher of Macmillan and editor-in-chief at William Morrow, died February 8 at the age of 86. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#william morrow
Andrew Pate, who held executive positions with several technology and print-on-demand companies, died November 10 at his home in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 58. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#chapel hill
Reading Agency chief executive Sue Wilkinson and Andrew Bignall, head of libraries at Hertfordshire, remember Sue Jones. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Skip Skwarek, whose long tenure at Dial Books for Young Readers included roles as managing editor and associate publisher, died of pneumonia on January 15. He was 70. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#long tenure
#dial books
#managing editor
#associate publisher
Liz Thomson takes a look at the life of Lord Weidenfeld, co-founder of Weidenfeld & Nicolson, who has died at the age of 96. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#lord weidenfeld
#weidenfeld nicolson
Brilliant and gregarious publisher who arrived in Britain as a refugee from nazism and co-founded his own firm with Nigel Nicolson in the late 1940sGeorge Weidenfeld, Lord Weidenfeld, who has died aged 96, belonged to that remarkable group of Jewish refugees who transformed postwar British... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book themes
#21st century
Children's book author and educator Andrea Cheng, whose books often focused on intercultural and intergenerational relationships, died on December 26 following a long illness. She was 58. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book author
#long illness
Literary agent with a fearsome reputation who was devoted to the work of her brother, Ted Hughes, and the posthumous literary life of his wife Sylvia PlathIn a photograph of Ted Hughes from his youth, the poet is cradling a large mirror. It reflects his sister, Olwyn Hughes, holding a box... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#monday morning
#earliest memories
#andre deutsch
An industry consultant who created educational programming for both Book Expo America and the Frankfurt Book Fair, Dressler died on December 23, after a battle with cancer. He was 55. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#mark dressler
#industry consultant
Former CEO of Little, Brown and Company, Arthur H. Thornhill, Jr., died on December 17. He was 91. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The founder of Amistad Press, and a pioneering African American book publishing executive, died December 16 in New York City. He was 81. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amistad press
He was supposed to become a doctor—at least according to his physician father—but Robert Baensch took a different turn, toward publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
British author and poet Peter Dickinson, who won back-to-back Carnegie Medals in the U.K., died on December 16, his 88th birthday. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#british author
#88th birthday
Carl L. Jolley, a longtime Penguin Group (USA) distribution executive who retired in 2009 as v-p, corporate director, distribution, passed away on Monday, December 14, at his home in Pennsylvania. He was 70. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Independent publisher Robert Hale Ltd is to “withdraw from publishing” after nearly 80 years, with 10 people made redundant. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Livres Hebdo pays tribute to its two young editors, Lola Salines and Ariane Theiller, were killed at the Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan in Paris on 13th November. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#young editors
#13th november
Stephen Hayward, who has died of a heart attack aged 61, founded the independent publisher Serif in 1992 and ran it from his east London home with great creative care. The book jackets, by Pentagram Berlin, are works of art in themselves.Stephen, the son of Gay (nee Goulding), an orthoptist, and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book jackets