Hey Mark,

From what I gather, the narrator didn't undergo ECT... Phaedrus did.
The narrator is the result of ECT and it is the narrator speaking in
the quote Marsha offered. It might seem a minor point but in fact the
whole story revolves around the narrator constructing a new
personality and much of the conflict between Chris and him goes back
to Phaedrus, who Chris remembers as his 'real' father. Phaedrus is the
'ghost' in the machine... the past that haunts the dreams of the
narrator, who is never named throughout the whole manuscript. We
assume it is Robert Pirsig.

You (on the other hand) seem to be assuming the narrator and Phaedrus
are one and the same. By making that assumption I think you're missing
a huge part of the story.

For what it's worth...

Dan

http://www.danglover.com

On Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 1:42 PM, 118 <ununoctiums@gmai...> wrote:
> Yes Marsha,
> But then how do you explain the ECT treatment he underwent.  Are you saying that Pirsig lived on a flat world.  I can only deduce that such is what you mean by posting only this part.  If not, then what do you mean?
>
> Sent laboriously from an iPhone,
> Mark
>
> On Feb 24, 2012, at 10:16 AM, MarshaV <valkyr@att....> wrote:
>
>>
>> "I think present-day reason is an analogue of the flat earth of the medieval period. If you go too far beyond it you're presumed to fall off, into insanity. And people are very much afraid of that. I think this fear of insanity is comparable to the fear people once had of falling off the edge of the world. Or the fear of heretics. There's a very close analogue there."
>>
>>    (ZAMM, Chapter 14)
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