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
Author of the Inspector Alan Banks series and welcome presence at crime fiction festivals around the worldPeter Robinson was the creator of the immensely popular Inspector Alan Banks crime series, set in Yorkshire – the books sold almost 9m copies in 19 languages and spawned a successful... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-10-14 16:44:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#first novel
#books sold
Author and illustrator Jill Pinkwater, best known for the humorous line drawings she created for many quirky chapter and picture books by her husband Daniel, died peacefully in Rhinebeck, N.Y. on October 4. She was 81. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#picture books
#died peacefully
Joan Fusco, former manager of remainders and overstock at Abrams, died on September 14 following a debilitating stroke. She was 83. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
My friend Jane Katjavivi, who has died aged 69 after a short bout of ill-health, dedicated her life to Namibia. She and I first met in the 1970s when we were both working in the London office of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo), the liberation movement fighting to end South... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-09-19 19:11:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#london office
#unique role
Author of The Horse Whisperer, the 1995 book that was turned into a popular film, starring and directed by Robert RedfordNicholas Evans, who has died aged 72 after a heart attack, was the unlikely author of the bestselling novel The Horse Whisperer (1995), which became a Robert Redford film.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-08-16 17:09:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book sold
#horse whisperer
#heart attack
#record price
#sale price
#previously left
#melvyn bragg
#patricia highsmith
#laurence olivier
#first novel
Christopher Foyle, former chairman of Foyles bookshops in the U.K., has died at the age of 79. He had been suffering from leukemia. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Widely recognized as one of the great Christian writers of the 20th century, Frederick Buechner died on August 15. He was 96. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#frederick buechner
#widely recognized
#20th century
Children's author and multimedia visual artist Jeanne Steig, known for her witty retellings of fairy tales and myths, most of them illustrated by her late husband, celebrated cartoonist and author William Steig, has died at 92. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fairy tales
#late husband
#children's author
Robert Scudellari, who served as corporate art director at Random House in the 1970s and '80s, died on June 3. He was 88. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#random house
British comic book writer responsible for shaping storylines for characters such as Judge Dredd, Batman and Strontium DogWhen the comic book writer Alan Grant, who has died aged 73, was at school in Scotland in the 1950s, he was regularly beaten by his teachers for being left-handed, and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-07-31 12:08:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#comic book
ITV’s political editor on coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder, belatedly publishing his first novel, and why he longs for a lost EnglandITV’s political editor Robert Peston, 62, began his career as a print journalist and has broken a string of stories, including the Northern Rock bailout... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-07-02 17:00:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#business editor
#general election
#ve written
#million miles
#observer order
#delivery charges
Long-time book sales representative Lisa Hill, a veteran of Random House and S&S, died on June 9 at Hospice of W. Kentucky from a short illness. She was 60. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#short illness
#random house
In his new book, 'Life Fighting: Why We Must Sometimes Fight and How to Do So Well,' author Robert W. Sweet sets out to answer the thorny question: Is it always wrong to use force to achieve a goal? Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Being fired as an advertising executive freed him to write a blistering memoir about his Southern family and an erotic novel that became a best seller. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-05-21 00:03:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#memoir
Spinelli, a former v-p and executive art director at Putnam Publishing Group, died on May 9. She was 77. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Award-winning children's book author Jim Murphy, best known for his carefully researched nonfiction documenting dramatic events in history, died suddenly on May 1; he was 74. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#jim murphy
#award-winning children
#died suddenly
#children's book
He vaulted to literary prominence with a lacerating childhood memoir of abuse and wrote best-selling novels such as "A Reliable Wife.” Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-14 01:28:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#memoir
The son of the Vietnam-era defense secretary recounts the "paradox" of their relationship. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-06 12:00:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Touré Roberts, founding pastor of one of Los Angeles’s largest churches and son-in-law to megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes, debunks myths about how to manage one’s work, family life, and well-being in a new book, 'Balance: Positioning Yourself To Do All Things Well.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#megachurch pastor
#family life
Guardian photographer who captured most of the main events and notable people from the early 1960s to the late 90sThe photographer Frank Martin, who has died aged 89, was on the staff of the Guardian from 1964 to 1997, creating an extensive body of work that covered news, arts, fashion, politics... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-04-13 16:01:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#early 1960s
#mark rylance
#david hockney
#jimmy carter
#norman mailer
#rolling stones
#novelists