Objects and Modifiers

The simplest way to begin making immediate progress with Beelzebub’s Tales is to understand the concept of Objects and Modifiers.

Objects are any person, place, thing, or event.  In an allegory, Objects are symbols which can be interpreted by the reader.  The ability to interpret what any character, place, thing, or event represents accurately amounts to an ability to understand the meaning Gurdjieff wished to transmit.  In general, objects correspond to the grammatical unit of nouns.

Let’s explore examples of Objects.  

First, we have characters.  It is useful to distinguish primary, secondary, and minor characters.  Primary characters are those which are referenced or appear throughout the book regularly: Beelzebub, ENDLESSNESS, Ashiata Shiemash, Hassein, Ahoon fall into this category.  Secondary characters appear as protagonists or antagonists in individual Tales only, and are relatively well defined.  Examples of these include the Angel Looisos, Gornahoor Harharkh, King Konuzion, Belcultassi, Hamolinadir, the priest Abdil, and Markary Kronburkzion to name a few.  Minor characters appear in stories with very little to no description, often not being named, but generally contain peculiarly specific features as to indicate they form some important function within the story.  Examples with the Tales they show up in: the old dotard (Perpetual Motion), Menitkel’s childless Aunt (Four Descent), the Adjutant (Russia), the squeaky-voiced tour guide (France), the fat necked cook (America).

One suggestion of the importance of questioning into the meaning of these characters is that insight into them represents a process of insight into the nature of Self and Other. A related fundamental question is that of “Who am I?” or “What is my true nature?”

Second, places.  These become very important to keep track of when the reader begins to reconfigure them use the book’s modifiers.  Again with places Gurdjieff evokes a sense of different scales.  He speaks of the Universe, galaxies, solar systems, planets, centers of culture, cities, parts of cities, towns, streets, and cafe’s.  In chapter 2, Karatas, Sun Absolute, and Solar System Ors become primary metaphorical places.  In a more cosmically local sense, metaphors such as the comet Kondoor, the satelite Anulios, and various planets in our solar system such as Saturn and Mars become scenes within the narrative.  On the planet Earth, we have Centers of Culture such as Tikliamish, Maralplecie, and Pearl Land.  Cities include Samlios, the City Gob, and France.  The Cafe de la Paix and the Rue des Colonels in the chapter France come to have symbolic meaning.

Modifiers are a series of literary techniques developed by Gurdjieff to indicate in what sense to take a given Object under consideration.  This is particularly useful to understand because the characteristic most obfuscating about Gurdjieff use of metaphor is the fact that his symbolism is dynamic.

Gurdjieff engineered objects in his allegory to intentionally represent different meanings depending on what they are thought of in relation to.  For instance, the most obvious interpretation of the character Beelzebub is that he represents the author Gurdjieff.  This is because he is the mouthpiece through which most of Gurdjieff’s allegory unfolds.  However, his revolt against ENDLESSNESS, described in Chapter 2, when thought about in relation to the description of Djartklom in Chapter 18, The Arch Absurd, causes us to think about him as representing one part of a person revolting and criticizing another part.  That is, in the first interpretation, Beelzebub represents a whole person, while in the second, one part of a person.  This is a shift of meaning indicated by thinking of the character in a different context.