“It’s Up to Ourselves”
In 2009 Gurdjieff’s daughter, Dushka (Cynthia Ann) Howarth (1924-2010), after a thirteen year effort, finally self-published, through her Gurdjieff Heritage Society (GHS), 500 copies of “It’s Up to Ourselves”, a handsome large format (18cm x 26cm), 511-page, hardbound book in colour printed covered boards, the text of which she had copyrighted in 1998.
Aptly subtitled A Mother, A Daughter and Gurdjieff, A Shared Memoir and Family Photo Album, it was a unique compendium of personal eye-witness accounts and previously unseen photographs of Gurdjieff and those close to him, making it, at the time, a major contribution to the Gurdjieff historical record. It covered the period from when the de Salzmanns joined Gurdjieff in Tiflis in 1919, to Gurdjieff’s death in 1949 and the continuing developments by his senior pupils up till 2009 – a hundred-year survey of what would later become known simply as the Work.
My involvement with the book began ten years earlier in 1999, when bibliographer and independent Gurdjieff scholar, J. Walter Driscoll (1944-2024), sent me a copy of Dushka’s manuscript, a 400-page word file dated 1997, titled It’s up to Ourselves, A Mother, A Daughter, G.I.Gurdjieff and Others.
Walter was co-author with The Gurdjieff Society of California of Gurdjieff: An Annotated Bibliography, Garland Publishing, New York, 1984
https://www.gurdjieff.org/rawlinson.htm
and co-founder, with Greg Loy, of the Gurdjieff International Review (GIR) launched in 1996.
I had worked with Walter on his Gurdjieff: A Reading Guide, a 38 page A4 size stapled booklet published by the GIR in 1996.
https://www.gurdjieff.org/notice1.htm
Dushka’s manuscript comprised a foreword, 28 untitled chapters (8 of which were unrelated to Gurdjieff), an afterword, 4 postscripts, (1. Gurdjieff Movements, 2. Gurdjieff’s Music, 3. Gurdjieff’s Meals, “Toasts to Idiots”, and “The Gurdjieff Salad”, 4. Gurdjieff’s Ballet, “The Struggle of the Magicians”) and an alphabetical list of the nearly 600 people mentioned in the book (with no page references).
Walter also sent me a copy of a covering letter to Dushka from Terry Winter Owens (1941-2007) the American composer, pianist and long-time student of Gurdjieff’s teachings, who had sent him the manuscript asking for his preliminary observations and an assessment of the viability of its publication, together with a copy of his response.
April 15, 1998
New York City
Dear Dushka,
Here is a long, well-thought out and wonderful proposal letter from Walter Driscoll. I strongly believe that with Driscoll on your team, you are in a most favorable position to get your book published and to get it published in a form that you can feel proud of. Driscoll is a person of intelligence and integrity and his energy and experience will be invaluable to you.
I feel that my role has been largely realized in bringing you and Walter Driscoll together but I am at the service of your book as a liaison and a consultant.
Please let me know what you think of Walter’s letter. If you would like to talk to Walter, feel free to phone him at…
He works during the day and there is a three hour time zone difference so if you call him after 9:00 PM NY time, you will probably reach him. His address is…
My best wishes,
Terry Winter Owens
April 9, 1998
Dear Terry,
REGARDING: Jessmin and Dushka Howarth’s “It’s Up to Ourselves: a mother, a daughter, G. I. Gurdjieff and others.” Unpublished manuscript. 1997, 400p., index.
Again, my thanks to you and Mrs. Howarth for allowing me to be privy to this marvelous material. I of course need to continue studying it but there is no question that this is a major document for many reasons: obviously because it is the first autobiography by a senior figure and family member, also because it’s insight, immediacy, intimacy and candor make it approachable and appealing. This book is also very important because of the authors’ measured reminder about focusing on Gurdjieff’s legacy (particularly the movements) rather than his person, something that is not adequately emphasized elsewhere in the Gurdjieff literature. The authors also draw attention to the increasing importance of understanding how the variety of interpretations by senior group leaders and the influence of other traditions (Buddhist, for example,) are seriously impacting on the practice of Gurdjieff’s teaching.
I’d like to recap our recent encouraging and productive conversations and email exchanges about this manuscript, develop some of the ideas we discussed and introduce a few other considerations.
The essential point is to SECURE ITS PUBLICATION in the most polished literary form and the best physical format possible SO IT IS NOT LOST TO POSTERITY. I’d like to suggest steps I think are necessary to begin and secure the process of publication and the long term strategies I think should be kept in mind to achieve the goal of publication.
Has Mrs. Howarth appointed a literary executor? If so, who is it? If not, and given the importance of this material, I think it is essential that she soon appoint someone who understands and is familiar with this book, will respect its integrity as well as work effectively and in the best interests of the manuscript, with the editorial team and eventual publishers. THE APPOINTMENT OF A TRUSTWORTHY LITERARY EXECUTOR WOULD not only serve to protect the manuscript in its present form and guarantee its editorial completion but would also SAFEGUARD ITS EVENTUAL INTACT PUBLICATION, REGARDLESS OF ANY EVENTUALITY.
Mrs. Howarth should also consider how she wishes to safeguard the integrity of her archives so they would, in any eventuality be available to the editorial team until the manuscript is completed and so they can be securely housed for posterity. Scholars reading her book will wish to have access to the archival material that supports it. Yale University Library now has extensive archival collections of Thomas de Hartmann, P.D. Ouspensky, Kathryn Hulme and Jean Toomer papers. Material that may still be too sensitive or personal but appropriately left for posterity can be included with a long term restriction, e.g. “NOT TO BE AVAILABLE UNTIL THE YEAR..[See entry 445 in the 1985 biblio for the Kathryn Hulme Collection where she imposed a 25 year restriction on access to some of her personal papers.]
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
This book is essentially sound, well written and contains a wealth of insights, observations and information not available elsewhere. As with any unedited manuscript, it needs minor editorial touch-up, polishing of grammar and sentence structure in places as well as the introduction of foot notes and end notes to clarify a number of points and references that are either scattered in the text or glossed over.
The alternation between the two authors’ voices and the occasional interjection of other correspondence is part of the book’s charm and works in most places but the present typeface and layout make it difficult for the reader to follow both who is speaking and the chronology of the events. How to make each of these changes of voice easy to follow has to be carefully considered. Who is speaking, should be obvious at a glance and on every page. It often helps to know the year and location of events being described. Some of these concerns might by addressed by using different fonts for each of the authors, indenting differently for each or running caption names, dates and places somewhere in the margin. In some cases, footnotes or addenda may serve to better communicate supplementary information instead of inserting it in the text with the risk of distracting or confusing the reader.
The restraint with which Jessmin Howarth deals with her disappointment with Gurdjieff as a man is commendable. The absence of accusation lends considerable dignity to her character but the fact of their liaison is acknowledged only in retrospect and the circumstances are avoided completely. The few pages (51 to 54) covering her first months at the Prieuré as a slightly vain, naïve and irritable “schoolgirl” who gradually takes on increasing responsibilities, is abruptly interrupted by discussion about James Webb’s version of Doris Tyndall’s suicide and the insertion of Maud Hoffman’s “Taking the Life Cure…” Both interesting digressions, but perhaps better provided in an appendix because they take ten pages. Suddenly it’s chapter six, Jessmin Howarth is in New York, pregnant and left there by Gurdjieff.
Something of her experiences at Fontainebleau and the circumstances leading up to her conceiving a child with Gurdjieff need to be treated in a restrained, minimal fashion. The reader is interested in her general experiences at Fontainbleau, her increasing involvement with and skill as a teacher of movements and further details about her impressions of Gurdjieff as a man and teacher, but of course NOT interested in salacious particulars. This period can probably be vividly described in a page or two.
WHO IS THIS BOOK AIMED AT?
As the life stories of an unusual mother and daughter, this book will appeal to many women and publishers are increasingly aware of this market. The book speaks more specifically of course, to those followers of the Gurdjieff teaching who are interested in and sufficiently informed to benefit from the authors’ personal narratives and vivid insights into the history of the Gurdjieff movement and the interplay of its major figures. This is not a large audience. The book does not, nor should it, seek to provide an extensive background on Gurdjieff or introduce him to the uninformed reader in great detail. On the other hand, a brief but thorough supplementary essay on the history of Gurdjieff and his influence might broaden the book’s appeal. Alternatively, if it doesn’t add one too many voices, additional information on Gurdjieff might be inserted at appropriate places in the text.
The book has additional but limited appeal to readers interested in social and artistic history of North America and English speaking Europe where both the authors traveled widely and were in regular contact with segments of the fine arts communities. These aspects might be slightly expanded, to give a somewhat broader appeal but this should not be allowed to interfere with the authors’ unique perspectives as significant participants in and observers of various Gurdjieff communities between the 1920’s and the 1990’s.
Based on these observations, I think a limited press run of hardcover copies could be confidently produced and successfully marketed. With more introductory coverage of Gurdjieff and additional emphasis on the fine arts aspects noted above, a run of perhaps several thousand paperback copies might be justified, particularly in the hands of a major publisher and/or distributor.
Since it is not confirmed in previously published sources, I anticipate that the claim of Gurdjieff’s paternity may be challenged. If Mrs. Howarth can provide corroborating evidence from among the unpublished correspondence in her archives, I suggest she consider including some of it in the book in order to forestall any such challenges after publication.
PUBLICATION.
I suggest that Bridge Press be considered as a provisional publisher while work on the manuscript is in progress. During that time, you can submit parts of the finished manuscript to various major and minor publishers under Mrs. Howarth’s direction. In this regard, she may want to consider the following:
– If she has the means, time and stamina, self publication or publication through a small, sympathetic press would give her the greatest control over editing the finished manuscript as well as the physical quality of the published book. This would also provide her with the greatest economic benefit without compromising literary or physical quality; in fact, self publication is now an entirely respectable and sometimes most effective alternative to contracting with an established publisher. Access to the personal and electronic network I have established with the worldwide Gurdjieff community, combined with professional internet marketing under the guidance of Greg Loy, could be a very effective way to publish and market this book.
– Large or prestigious ‘name’ publishers offer only 10% of gross to all but ‘best selling’ authors. These publishers are, like bankers, first concerned with their investment. This priority drives their editorial approach to a book. Their contracts, which authors are required to sign, give publishers final editorial control and the right to refuse to publish if the manuscript does not meet their editor’s requirements.
– Given the potentially controversial nature of some information in this book, I expect that there could be a few wealthy, influential conservative members of the Gurdjieff hierarchy who may try to interfere with its publication or at least influence the editors to cut certain things they don’t want made public. If this sounds like paranoid rantings, I can assure you that James Webb’s Harmonious Circle, albeit for entirely different reasons, was subjected to this very kind of obstruction for several years. I know as fact that a copy of his manuscript was leaked to those in the Foundation who wanted to obstruct and censor it. One of these people showed me a purloined copy of the manuscript while I was researching the bibliography and allowed me to copy an entire chapter that was removed before publication.
Because of these considerations, I think self publication, or going with a small publisher should be kept fully in mind as a ‘fall back’ position if a favorable contract isn’t achieved with a major publisher. I can think of five or six smaller houses that publish this kind of material and would likely be very interested in the manuscript. Should Mrs. Howarth be looking for backers for private publication, I can also think of a few trustworthy people who might be interested in investing financially in the publication of this book. I must confess that I have a definite bias for a high quality, hardcover production for this noteworthy material, even if it were in a very limited private edition that didn’t interfere with the book’s subsequent wider publication.
I hope you don’t find this letter is not long-winded. Given the importance of this book, many things will have to be taken into consideration to successfully bring it to publication.
Has Mrs. Howarth seen the Gurdjieff site? Has she a copy of the Gurdjieff bibliography?
Warm regards,
Walter
The Mrs Howarth Walter is referring to, appears to be Dushka, not her mother Jessmin Howarth (1893-1984), who at that time was no longer alive.
https://www.gurdjieff.org/ravindra-s1.htm
Walter proposed that I write a review of the manuscript for the GIR, conditional on my sending Dushka my comments.
As Dushka did not then have an internet connection I sent her the following letter.
May 29 1999
Dear Dushka,
Walter Driscoll kindly sent me an electronic copy of your manuscript on the condition that I agreed to write to you with comments, which is the reason for this letter.
After a short career as an engineer in various countries, I have spent the last 25 years selling esoteric books in Australia, so my assessment is offered primarily as a bookseller, though I have also been involved with Gurdjieff’s ideas for a similar period.
Your straightforward, no nonsense, practical presentation was a refreshing change from the intellectual seriousness of some of the other commentaries on Gurdjieff and his ideas and was greatly appreciated. The quote at the beginning about a person having more Being not making them less Human, I found very apt and set the tone wonderfully. This aspect is so often overlooked. I also liked the examples of how suggestibility turned simple human errors into miraculous events. But most of all, the book gives a human dimension to the people and places of Gurdjieff’s French and American period and adds significantly to its history and the time following his death. The letters particularly give an authenticity and immediacy to the account.
The emphasis on the importance of the Movements, the demystification of the Movements and the distinction between the early and later series of Movements is excellent. I was told, by someone involved in the production of “Meetings with Remarkable Men”, that the film’s original Movements sequence was heavily cut by the distributors, who claimed it was too long and boring. Yet for years my bookshop customers have told me that the Movements scene is the one that had the most impact on them and that they wished it was longer.
My only suggestion for the book is to please not let some professional editor fiddle with it. The version I read, which Walter tells me is a couple of years old, reads wonderfully and brings to life both yourself and your mother and the relationship with Gurdjieff and his work. For me it was perfect as it is….
Sincerely,
Michael Benham
In 2001 I sent Walter a draft of my review of Dushka’s manuscript.
7 January 2001
Walter,
Attached draft review of “It’s Up To Ourselves”. My apologies for the delay…
It is perhaps fortunate that I have been able to put the book aside and then come back to it again, for I find that my original criticisms no longer seem to ring true. This time I sensed a depth and quality to Dushka’s writing that I was not open to previously. Her chatty, practical, common sense style may upset some of the more serious historians of the Work but to me it feels grounded in an engagement with and understanding of life…
All the best for the New Year, the true start of the Millenium.
Michael
Walter forwarded the review for possible publication in the GIR and sent a copy to Dushka.
In October 2003 selected excerpts from Dushka’s manuscript were published in the GIR.
https://www.gurdjieff.org/howarth2.htm
The following year I emailed Dushka
2 July 2 2004
Dushka,
Nearly five years ago I was sent a draft of your manuscript with the view of writing a review for the Gurdjieff International Review.
The review was written and ready for publication in 2002, but with the upheavals at the GIR at the time I didn’t wish to appear to be siding with either Walter Driscoll or Greg Loy and withheld publication from both. You have of course since published a lengthy extract in the GIR.
Now that things have run their course I am considering offering the review first to Walter www.gurdjieff-bioliography.com , then to Greg www.gurdjieff.org if either wishes to publish it.
I am not interested in writing reviews, particularly literary or critical as such but felt your book like Paul Taylor’s book ‘Orage and Gurdjieff’, which I reviewed in an earlier edition of the GIR, adds important new material to the Gurdjieff historical literature. Paul was also kind enough to allow me to read and comment on his new book ‘Gurdjieff’s America’ at the draft stage.
Attached is a copy of the review. I welcome any comments or corrections and would respect your decision if you don’t wish it to be published.
Sincerely,
Michael Benham
Melbourne, Australia
Dushka replied, outlining the difficulties she had experienced over the last five years and asked that I wait for the completion of her new expanded version. She was incorporating many photographs (eventually over 950) into the text. Photos gathered from the personal correspondence, scrapbooks and family photo albums belonging to her and her mother, from Madame Ouspensky’s photo albums supplied by Ouspensky’s granddaughter (Tania Nagro) and from other private collections. A task that involving learning (at age 80) how to work with a desktop computer and the specialised publishing software required to format the final layout that would allow her to publish the book herself, while also dealing with critical health issues
3 July 2004
Dear Mr. Benham,
Greetings!
Yes, I remember (and have shown to others) your very..(I won’t say kind that’s too banal)…but really insightful review. At times of discouragement I was supported to think that someone had “gotten it!”…understood the real messages beneath what others sneered at as “personal gossip”.
Like you I was caught in the GIR upheavals. After a couple of years of constant, deep telephone contact with Walter working with him on his website and the GIR (especially the Movements issue….which is a whole other story involving NY Foundation pressure!!!) I haven’t been able to reach him in a year (despite scores of calls, emails, etc.) in spite of his knowing that all last year was terrible for me. (cancer, radiation, heart stoppages, by-passes etc, etc.). I have to believe this nice, well-meaning man had some kind of breakdown.
Also all my plans were upset regarding the book since Walter was the one who had stepped in, offered to help, recruited people like you, and convinced me to keep control of the publication myself and not just accept the offers of publishing from such as David Kherdian, William Patrick Patterson, Element, Kevin Roberts, Traditions Press, (and now Sophia Wellbeloved, etc.). So I ended up having to learn computers, photo retouching, PHOTO SHOP, QUARK, etc..and have now collected and placed 800 photos into the text, (I’d already arranged with Michel de Salzmann to use the famous market scene painting as my colored cover, etc)
All of which is to explain to you why my book has been so delayed (despite generous professional help from book designer Ernie Haim, proofing by Martha Heyneman and many others, printing contacts through Doug Sprei, promised featuring by BYTHEWAYBOOKS, the Gurdjieff Internet Guide, more GIR promotion, etc.)
So, please, I would love your review to appear, BUT…though the gist and direction of the book are the same , there are many changes (improving ones I hope including the photos and captions) so I’d suggest you see a more recent version first…
Having waited this long I hope you agree that a little longer would make sense. I will know better in a couple of weeks what schedule we foresee for the book…still months rather than weeks (but at least not years!) until it actually goes on sale. The GIR excerpts were wonderful and aroused a lot of interest but appeared much too early in some ways……
I’d welcome your reaction and suggestions and am ever grateful for all your time and interest.
Sincerely
Dushka
Despite Dushka’s positive tone it was to be another five years before the book was finally published. Meanwhile her time was directed towards establishing an archive for her papers and building a website to raise awareness of both the archive and the book.
On 25 May 25 2005, the non-profit Gurdjieff Heritage Society (GHS) was incorporated in New York with the aim of preserving the materials that comprise the Gurdjieff teaching.
https://gurdjieff-heritage-society.org/archiving-project-and-collections
The following year Dushka turned her attention to finishing the book. Between 19 November and 22 December 2006, she emailed me (for proof reading, fact checking and comment), 44 separate PDF files comprising the final 511 page book layout which now included the 950 plus photographs. She also sent me her original hand written concept for the front cover below.
Two months later Dushka circulated an email regarding the Gurdjieff Heritage Society’s new website
4 February 2007
DEAR FRIENDS… PRESENT AND FUTURE:
We are glad to announce that our brand new web site is now up and running!
Our goal is to serve as a long overdue newsletter and central meeting place
for the entire international Gurdjieff community.
So please go now to: “http:www.gurdjieff-heritage-society.org“
Read the interesting material already posted there, (much more will be
forthcoming) and spread the word to your friends, acquaintances and group
members.
Any comments and suggestions will be very welcome, (and we have set up a big
incoming mailbox to accommodate them.)
And please alert us to the “Work” events in your area. Our “News Page” will
be kept up-to-date and, space permitting, we will gladly share all kinds of
announcements, photos, reviews of new books, CDs and films, etc.
Best wishes to you all,
Dushka Howarth
and the GURDJIEFF HERITAGE SOCIETY, Inc.
Dushka’s distinctly designed original Gurdjieff Heritage Society website is preserved online at
https://www.howarthgurdjieffarchive.org/dushka-2006-website/index.htm
Initially she included my review of her original manuscript to build interest in the book.
19 February 2007
Dushka,
Congratulations on the recent launching of the Gurdjieff Heritage Society web site.
My apologies for the delay in getting back to you about the book.
For me what makes the book stand out from other ‘work’ books is its sense of a connection with real life and common sense practicality while at the same time insisting on protecting the original instructions and methods of Mr Gurdjieff from distortion.
I guess I now appreciate the need for all those multiple explanation marks.
Much as I admire and respect the sincere efforts of the powers that be to preserve the work I can’t help but notice the impracticality and suggestibility that seems to creep in, as you have pointed out in the book with for example the harmonium recordings and the movements.
In the latest version I also liked the way you had expanded the section on working with movements in South America and described the difficult conditions that had to be overcome.
By comparison it makes the established center’s insistence on a hall with a proper floor, a quality piano, and approved instructor and pianist seem a little ‘precious’.
From a historical point of view I really appreciated all the extra photographs you have so carefully collected and included.
But most of all what makes this book is your keeping control over the whole production and doing it your way !!! After thirty years in book selling I know this is no easy task and I dread to think what would have happened if a publisher had meddled with it.
Best wishes for the successful completion and publication of the book.
Michael
20 February 2007
DEAR MICHAEL,
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE CHEERING MESSAGE.
I ADMIT THAT AMONGST MY BLUSTERING, EVEN ARROGANT MULTIPLE “I”s THERE ARE MANY THAT OFTEN NEED BUCKING UP.
……SO YOUR KIND AS WELL AS PROFESSIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT IS CERTAINLY NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.
BEST WISHES
DUSHKA
Two years later in early 2009 Dushka sought subscriptions for prepublication orders of 200 copies to fund the initial printing of the book.
1 February 2009
Dear Friend –
Here is your personal invitation to order at a generous discount this
long awaited book:
Its Up to Ourselves
A Mother, a Daughter and Gurdjieff
—- A Shared Memoir and Family Photo Album
—- by Jessmin and Dushka Howarth
FINALLY THE COMPLETED BOOK IS READY TO BE PRINTED,
becoming available for the first time.
Filled with unusual personal eye-witness accounts and OVER 950 UNIQUE
PHOTOS of George Gurdjieff and his intimates, it takes the reader
from the earliest years, to his death in 1949 and the continuing
development of the Work up to the present day.
Colorfully portraying prominent people in the international community,
the book offers unusual perspectives of Gurdjieff, the man, his
family, and his teaching methods: Movements, music, writings, special
dinner rituals, etc.
PRE-PUBLICATION ORDERS at a discounted price are being offered to
facilitate the initial printing. Upon receipt of the first 200 paid
orders, printing will begin. In appreciation for your support, you
will be assured reserved copies of the First Edition, for yourself
and interested friends. (Group and distributor orders are especially
welcome.)
FOR MORE DETAILS, AND TO ORDER,
Just click on or copy into your browser:
www.Gurdjieff-Heritage-Society.org/buy-book.htm
<http://www.Gurdjieff-Heritage-Society.org/buy-book.htm>
If you know anyone else interested in this pre-publication
opportunity, please feel free to forward this special invitation to
them.
A Prosperous New Year wish to all!
Dushka
Gurdjieff Heritage Society
Later in 2009 Greg Loy asked me to update my original review for publication on the GIR website. I sent a copy to Dushka four months before her passing.
11 December 2009
Dushka,
Seven years ago I wrote a review of “It’s Up To Ourselves” for Greg Loy’s Gurdjieff International Review.
He recently asked me to update it for putting on the GIR website.
Attached is a copy of the updated review.
Thank you for your efforts in bringing this book to life and your generosity in allowing me to read the manuscript in its various stages.
Michael Benham
After the review’s publication in the GIR, the review of her original manuscript was replaced by a featured link to the final book review on her book excerpts page below.
https://www.howarthgurdjieffarchive.org/dushka-2006-website/excerptsbook.htm
In my updated review, I added the following end section highlighting Dushka’s efforts and the obstacles she had to overcome.
When the initial manuscript of “It’s Up To Ourselves” was circulated almost ten years ago it received little encouragement and some criticism for its unique personal voice. Its length and limited appeal made it commercially unpublishable without extensive editing. It is to Dushka’s Howarth’s credit that she resisted the call for change and compromise and embarked on acquiring the skills needed to compile, prepare and produce her own unique family record. During the later years of preparation she was able to collect and add many previously unseen photographs. Most significant are those from Madame Ouspensky’s early photograph album (of Gurdjieff and his companions travelling through Europe, Gurdjieff in Germany and life at the Prieure) and photographs of Alexandre de Salzmann’s sets for Gurdjieff’s proposed ballet “The Struggle of the Magicians”. In all there are over 950 photographs of varying degrees of clarity due to the difficulties of scanning old photographs and the financial necessity of printing on plain paper. Despite the poor quality of some photographs we must be grateful that they have been preserved.
It is important to reflect that this book’s publication was only possible through the efforts of Dushka Howarth over many years and her determination under difficult circumstances to faithfully record and preserve the legacy of both her mother and her father. As Mr Gurdjieff used to say to her in 1949 “Bravo Sophie!”
https://www.gurdjieff.org/benham2.htm
In Appendix 3 of the book Dushka says
This would usually be the place of an “Index” I suppose. But since this is not one of those “scholarly tomes” but a personal collection of memories and recounting, quotations and photographs, I’ll just list the many people and places, ordinary and extraordinary, that you will find in these pages.
By the time the book was ready for printing, Dushka was in failing health and bedridden, so it is understandable that she made this compromise to ensure the book was published before she died.
In October 2020, during the Covid 19 lockdowns in Melbourne, I sought to remedy this by proposing to Greg Loy of the GHS that I produce very detailed indexes of both the text and photographs and enquired if there was a single PDF file, of the book as published, that I could work with. To which he replied
11 Oct 2020
Michael,
It took awhile to find this. So many people worked on the book and Dushka’s organization of her computer files are practically incomprehensible. However, I think this is the one used for the book. (deleted dropbox link) Please let me know when you have downloaded the file so that I can remove it from the cloud. Also, please do not share this document with anyone else.
Best wishes,
Greg
Medical issues prevented me from working on the indexes until May of the following year.
While I had no experience with indexing and no ready access to publishing industry indexing software, my familiarity with the published and unpublished literature on Gurdjieff and long-time involvement in the Work enabled me to recognise connections between different entries and assess their importance to an extent not possible by a professional indexer unfamiliar with Gurdjieff.
Using a free software program that created an indexed list of every word in the text, I simply whittled it down by deleting hundreds of common and unrelated words until I had a solid working list that I could cross check with my copy of the book.
One of the original criticisms of Dushka’s early manuscript from some Gurdjieff historians, academics, and sections of the Gurdjieff establishment was that about a quarter of it covered Jessmin’s and Dushka’s private and professional lives unrelated to their time with Gurdjieff. This in a way overlooked Gurdjieff’s assertion that his system was a way in life not in isolation from it. The example of how these two talented women adapted to often challenging life circumstances to support themselves and advance their careers was of interest.
I therefore decided to compile two sets of indexes of both the text and the photographs. One focused on their involvement with Gurdjieff, his pupils and his work and accounts of Gurdjieff’s life and the other focused on their lives not related to Gurdjieff and his pupils.
The whole process took about four months to refine and complete.
Following two earlier drafts, I sent the final file to Greg the following year.
5 September 2021
Greg,
Final file from me below.
Apologies for the long delay.
I have gone through the book from cover to cover and checked every reference. Other references have been added where people are described by other than their main name. For example, Lonia Savitsky is referred to also as Ouspensky’s (Peter and Sofia) grandson, Lenushka’s son, Tania’s brother and Dushka’s friend (at Franklin Farms). This was only possible using the PDF copy you provided. Thank you again.
Regards,
Michael
INDEXES
For use with
“IT’S UP TO OURSELVES”
A Mother, A Daughter, and Gurdjieff
A SHARED MEMOIR and FAMILY PHOTO ALBUM
_________________________________________
by
JESSMIN and DUSHKA HOWARTH
Gurdjieff Heritage Society
Copyright, Dushka Howarth, 1998
1: FULL INDEX (TEXT AND PHOTOS) TO JESSMIN’S AND DUSHKA’S INVOLVEMENT WITH GURDJIEFF, HIS PUPILS AND HIS WORK, AND ACCOUNTS OF GURDJIEFF’S LIFE
2: FULL INDEX (TEXT AND PHOTOS) RELATING TO JESSMIN’S AND DUSHKA’S LIVES NOT RELATED TO GURDJIEFF AND HIS PUPILS
3: INDEX AND DESCRIPTIONS OF PHOTOS RELATING TO JESSMIN’S AND DUSHKA’S INVOLVEMENT WITH GURDJIEFF HIS PUPILS AND HIS WORK AND ACCOUNTS OF GURDJIEFF’S LIFE
4: INDEX AND DESCRIPTIONS OF PHOTOS NOT RELATED TO JESSMIN’S AND DUSHKA’S INVOLVEMENT WITH GURDJIEFF HIS PUPILS AND HIS WORK
When I gave a copy of the indexes to the GHS in 2021, there was some suggestion of a new edition of It’s Up to Ourselves which could have included the indexes. But five years on, this doesn’t seem likely. In this time more and more important material has been left to the GHS and as a consequence the indexes are now difficult to find, being referenced on the eight and last page of The Howarth Gurdjieff Archive section of the complete Gurdjieff Heritage Society Archive.
https://www.howarthgurdjieffarchive.org/item/doc-001-00970
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The indexes are now also available at
Gurdjieff Research 