Thursday, May 21, 2015

"The Herald Of Coming Good" by G.I. Gurdjieff

This booklet was supposed to be a pamphlet announcing the "All and Everything" series (none of which was published during Gurdjieff's life, not even the first part - Beelzebub) in 1933 and explaining how the upcoming series should be read.  Gurdjieff, of course, forgot himself writing, especially when complaining about the 'criminally lazy' people who he trained and who did not give him the expected assistance, and myriad of other pet peeves, so the booklet/pamphlet got to about 87 pages. 

The two appendices to the book were added at random times after the main part was 'sent' to the publisher, though they are dated March and April 1933, while the actual publishing of the booklet happened in August 1933. 

The booklet repeats some parts found in "Beelzebub's tales to his grandson" and is written in the same long-winded fashion, with page-long single-sentence paragraphs with dozens of digressions and grammar changes, making it just as unreadable as Beelzebub (or maybe the correct way of putting it is 'just as readable'). 

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