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Women in the Work
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'With Gurdjieff in St. Petersburg and Paris'
by Anna Butkovsky-Hewitt
St. Petersburg before the Revolution - the cultural heart of Russia; a city where actors, musicians, writers and painters along with the artists of the Imperial Opera and Ballet rubbed shoulders in an atmosphere alive with intellectual energy ...... This was Anna Butkovsky's life until she reached her early thirties and it was through this life that she met and became friends with P.D.Ouspensky and with him became one of Gurdjieff's pupils.
With a remarkable memory for detail and a gift for evoking the atmosphere of those early days she describes how Gurdjieff and a few pupils would meet daily at Phillipof's Cafe to learn the Method of Gurdjieff's teaching. Eventually, she and others of the group lived communally in a house which Gurdjieff bought especially for them.
The Revolution changed all of their lives forever as it did for millions of other Russians but Anna's story does not end there. Some years later, and called Mrs. Hewitt she reconnected with Gurdjieff in Paris and resumed her studies with him.
Throughout the book she keeps the all important ideas of the Quest and the Miraculous alive and from this we get an unforgettable picture of the 'Event' which Gurdjieff's life and Work truly was.
ISBN 0-7100-8527-3