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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was Vseslavsky?

2. What, in Gurdjieff's opinion, has harmed contemporary literature?

3. Who was the fortuneteller whom Gurdjieff's aunt consulted?

4. Where is the chief monastery of the Essene Brotherhood situated?

5. What was Pogossian bitten by?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the relationship between Gurdjieff's father and Dean Borsh?

2. According to Gurdjieff into what three categories does contemporary literature fall and how does he describe them?

3. What did Father Borsh devote his spare time to?

4. Describe the Essene Brotherhood.

5. What is a gornakh?

6. Which two animals does Gurdjieff think each man should embody and why?

7. Who was Gurdjieff's first tutor and what position did he hold?

8. Describe Father Borsh.

9. Describe Bogachevsky.

10. What does Gurdjieff criticize contemporary people for and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

1) Describe Abram Yelov: his physical appearance, his peculiarities and his relationship with his parents and friends.

2) What eventually happens to Yelov? How does he become wealthy? How does he lose his fortune? Where does he finally settle?

3) What did Abram Yelov's father do for a living? What did his mother do?

4) Choose one of the three topics and write on it.

Essay Topic 2

1) What are some of the devices the Seeker of the Truth comes up with in order to cross the Gobi desert?

2) Where does Soloviev die and how?

3) Who is Ekim Bey, where does Gurdjieff meet him?

4) Choose one of the three topics and write on it.

Essay Topic 3

1) Describe the situation of the European painter who was so highly praised by a German newspaper. Was he really a great painter? What happened in the story?

2) How did a literary critic cause the suicide of a young couple?

3) Describe the music critic Gurdjieff judges as a phony in the book. Why does Gurdjieff feel the man has no right to be a music critic?

4) Choose one of the three questions and answer in as much detail as possible.

(see the answer keys)

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