Product Description

With Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, G. I. Gurdjieff intended to "destroy, mercilessly . . . the beliefs and views about everything existing in the world." This novel beautifully brings to life the visions of humanity for which Gurdjieff has become esteemed. Beelzebub, a man of worldly (and other-worldly) wisdom, shares with his grandson the anecdotes, personal philosophies, and lessons learned from his own life.The reader is given a detailed discussion of all matters physical, natural, and spiritual, from the creation of the cosmos to man's teleological purpose in the universe. This edition of Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson--the first single-volume paperback to appear in English--restores the original, authoritative translation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #405899 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1152 pages

Customer Reviews

Warning!
_Beezlebub's Tales to His Grandson_ is the ultimate Russian novel. This book might also be among the first true science fiction novels ever written. Although most of this book is fairly readable, the process is made much more difficult by the fact that Gurdjieff is constantly inventing new words. Not only that, these words have many different sub-definitions and connotations. It is very important that you get out a pad of paper and write down your interpretations of Gurdjieff's new vocabulary as you go along. Try to derive the meanings of these words through the context of the sentence, and write down the meanings as best you can. Then remember to continually add nuances to your definitions as Gurdjieff introduces slightly different usages and connotations for his words. This might sound troublesome, but deriving the definitions of the words from the context clues in the sentence is not that difficult. Just take my advice and WRITE DOWN THE DEFINITIONS. Otherwise, the new words and all their different connotations will prove to be too much to contain in your head all at once, and you will lose the handle on it.

That said, this book is quite fascinating, and very important philosophically. It is unquestionably a great work, and is worth the trouble it takes to read it. If it were not for the extreme length and difficulty, I would have given it five stars.

A Masterpiece
This is a masterpiece. It shows Gurdjieff's sense of humor as he imparts an enormous amount of wisdom and truths in this book. And, as he suggests, it should be read more than once to actually get all out of it that can be gotten.

To read it carefully, and with thought will show you just what 'man' is really all about, and so much more.

Not for everyone
This is not a normal book and it should not be purchased or read with that intention. Spiritual development is a complex question and one person may be drawn to one kind of spiritual development while another may be drawn to a different kind. Gurdjieff wrote this book so that different types are drawn to different sections. No one is supposed to be alive to the entire book. Moreover, it should be read in conjunction with a work group that is applying the Gurdjieff work method systematically. The book itself can only be understood in conjunction with practical application of work effort. Someone who attempts to read it as though it were Tolstoy is not likely to get much out of it. In the 1980s I belonged to a group in the Warwick, NY area called the Chardovoyne Barn that had been founded by Wilhelm Nyland, a personal student of Gurdjieff who had founded his group to cater to 1960s types, many of whom were still there. The Gurdjieff work method is a great tool that I gained a tremendous amount from but it is unlikely that everyone would benefit equally. If you are drawn to Gurdjieff I suggest that you contact the Gurdjieff Institute, and the Warwick group may still be there, or another group with direct links to Gurdjieff that doesn't ask for a huge amount of money. Gurdjieff was a bit of a con man, and there has always been a tinge of fraud surrounding some of his followers or would-be followers. It is nonsense to claim that tithing, for instance, is important to the Gurdjieff work.