Notes on the 1992 Revision of The Tales

The Revision of The Tales

[An Excerpt from To Fathom The Gist, Vol 2 – The Arch Absurd]

Italics

Italics are the print equivalent of underlining and are thus commonly used for emphasis. Employing a standard convention, Gurdjieff uses italics for the names of the ships mentioned in the book: Karnak, Occasion and Omnipresent. The Revision keeps to this convention.

Gurdjieff ’s only other use of italics is when he refers to the “after-dinner Cheshma” of Sheherazade. The word “Cheshma” is italicized both in the text and in the footnote that appears at the bottom of the page. This is not done in the revised version or Gurdjieff’s German version. We have no good theory as to why Gurdjieff chose to use italics to emphasize this word alone throughout the whole of the book. However, if there is some important meaning involved in this, it will be missed entirely by readers of the revised version.