Strangest literary anomaly - Codex Seraphinianus

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Many "scribes" will gladly talk with you about this or that philosophical theory, discuss the state of modern literature and the immortal greatness of the classics, the merits of one author and the shortcomings of another. But few will talk about the dark niche of the literary process, the unknown and rarely understood culture of the so-called. "Strange books". These books cannot be found in libraries, newspapers do not write about them, they are not cited as an example by literary critics. They seem to be ignored, ignored.

Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that strange books are always books with a question mark. A person loves answers, understandable constructions and transparent meanings. The person loves puzzles that he can solve. If things are different, the puzzle is often hated and rejected, because unsolved, it is the embodiment of a mockery of the human mind, its intelligence and capabilities. Strange books never provide answers and very rarely pose simple questions. They are designed for the chosen reader - sensual and inclined to listen to the cold winds of the unknown. One such strange book is the Codex Seraphinianus, but this is just one of many.

The history of the appearance of the book:

This book, in contrast to the Voynich manuscript, although the author is known: Luigi Serafini, Italian artist, sculptor, architect, teacher of graphic design at the Futurarium school.

The book is called modestly, after the author's name, Codex Seraphinianus, which for some reason stands for “Strange and Extraordinary Representations of Animals and Plants and Hellish Incarnations of Normal Items from the Annals of Naturalist / Unnaturalist Luigi Serafini”, or "Strange and unusual representations of animals, plants and hellish incarnations from the depths of the consciousness of the naturalist / anti-naturalist Luigi Serafini."

In 1978, a voluminous package was brought to the Milan publishing house of Franco Maria Rizzi. Instead of the usual manuscript, employees were amazed to find a thick stack of pages with illustrations and explanatory text. The illustrations are whimsical and weird. None of the editors could read the text.

The letter attached to the package said that the author had created something like an encyclopedia of another world. The book is modeled on medieval scientific codes: each page depicts a specific object, action or phenomenon; annotations are written in a fictional language.

It's like Bardo Tedol, a book about the world of the dead written for the living. But the Codex Seraphinianus does not indulge us with the clarity of the embedded meanings. The Code is open to interpretation, and the meanings it conveys are entirely up to the reader.

In 1981, Rizzi issues a sumptuous edition of the Codex Seraphinianus, which has been published several times since then. Codex Seraphinianus is a rare and expensive publication. It came out in small editions on the best paper. A 400-page book can be obtained for a starting price of 250 euros. For example, the legendary Amazon.com asks for this surreal happiness from 400 to 1000 dollars, depending on the seller. Codex Seraphinianus - For Select Buyer Only. However, they say it can be found in libraries too.

The Codex is a colorful 400-page encyclopedia of an imaginary world with detailed commentary in an unknown language. The Codex is divided into 11 chapters, in turn divided into 2 sections: the first about the natural world, the second about man. each chapter is accompanied by a table of contents with pagination on a 21-based basis (or 22-based, sources differ in judgment).

The chapters are devoted to different sets:

1-flora

2-fauna

3-life in cities

4-chemistry, biology

5-mechanics, technical inventions

6-peoples

7-world map, ordinary and important people

8-writing

9-food and clothing

10-Holidays, Games, Fun

11-city architecture

Thus, the Codex Seraphinianus is a complete encyclopedia of a fictional world that could exist, exists or will exist somewhere in the universe.

Graphics:

Illustrations are often surreal parodies of things from the real world: bleeding fruits, colorful egg children walking in the park, people bowing in garbage bags in landfills near the metropolis, a warrior with a road sign shield, drawings of ships and flying cars, vegetables unknown to science, etc. e. Some illustrations are easily recognizable, such as maps and people's faces. Almost all of the drawings are brightly colored and rich in detail.

Book language:

The letter is incomprehensible, somewhat similar to Latin - words are written in a line, from left to right, with capitalization at the beginning of what may be a sentence. The graphics of the letters resemble the Georgian or Hebrew alphabet. They tried unsuccessfully to decipher it, although it is more of a graphic than a meaningful letter.

Quite such Borges' encyclopedia of incomprehensible objects, collected in a strange order according to unknown criteria.

The renowned Italian journalist Italo Calvino was delighted: The Code is one of the most curious examples of an illustrated book. Read it using foreign language and traditional perception. There is no other meaning for this book than that which the inventive reader gives it."

“However, let's look at this book differently. What if the pictures of the "Codex" are pictures of our present, albeit hypertrophied, but the main thing is today. From this perspective, the book becomes even more terrifying, because it becomes clear that frightening pictures are not invented or coming in the distant future, but are happening now, with us, in our reality. All this is our seamy side, all these perversions, mutations, deformities and perversions, wild syntheses and terrifying rituals, all these are some plants that grow from us, seeds, on ideal soil - the modern world. Thus, Serafini gives us a supersensitive mirror - a body that has been skinned. And here we have bared veins, muscles, tendons, organs and bones. Touch and everything will ring. " (opinion of Anatoly Ulyanov from Blogs@mail. Ru)

Who is Luigi Serafini? Liar and hoaxer or prophet and visionary? Is the Codex an elegant fake, or is it a true end-of-the-world testament? The answer is unlikely to ever be received. Regardless of the truth, Codex Seraphinianus will remain one of the most interesting books in human history and the strangest literary artifact of the twentieth century.

The book is modeled on medieval scientific codes: each page depicts a specific object, action or phenomenon; the annotations are written in a fictional language (similar to Bardo Tedol, a book about the world of the dead written for the living).

Seraphinianus consists of two parts, written in a language entirely invented by the author, including numbering. The wonderful illustrations of unprecedented plants, animals, monsters, cars, everyday scenes and other things deserve special attention and admiration.

This is a kind of encyclopedia of a planet similar to Earth, inhabited by creatures similar to people with a similar way of life. Contains sections on physics, chemistry, mineralogy (including many drawings of elaborate gems), geography, botany, zoology, sociology, linguistics, technology, architecture, sports, clothing, and so on.

The paintings have their own internal logic, but at first glance they are so peculiar that they seem in many ways ridiculous.

Just think: this man invented rare plants, fruits and vegetables of new varieties; insects, underground inhabitants of unknown origin (a cross between a bird, a fish and a lizard), which lay eggs, digging special holes; strange dismembered snakes; snakes serving as laces; birds of unimaginable appearance (one of them is in the form of a writing pen); humanoid creatures emerging from huge eggs; mammals unknown to science and, I'm afraid, even unknown to the imagination; autonomously existing parts of the human body that behave like ordinary people; lots of quirky household gadgets and vehicles (insanely interesting butterfly catcher on page 170). The second part of the album is dedicated to man. Looking at these drawings, you tell yourself that what you saw earlier was just preparation. Starting at page 191, something unimaginable awaits you. What Serafini managed to do with the human body is astonishing to the extreme. And it is quite obvious that the artist has carefully thought out everything, every detail. His ideas are not a bunch of chaotic particles, they are perfect concepts that make up the whole world. He even created new ethnic groups, thinking over both the features of their costumes and the type of housing buildings. Architectural structures, city plans, new forms of life, entertainment, accessories, clothing - Serafini did not miss anything.

It is difficult to say whether this is radical art or salon art; provocation or drug for the obese bourgeoisie; the fact, however, that all these boys and girls, who turn into crocodiles during copulation, can be scrutinized endlessly; each illustration - reminiscent of Bosch or, perhaps, of the graphics of Escher and Fomenko - exudes a certain special wit.

It is rightfully considered the strangest literary anomaly in the history of the twentieth century. "Codex" is a crazy exploration of an alien world, a collection of hallucinations, dreams, visions and surrealistic images, a synthesis of incomprehensible text and outrageous illustrations.

Codex Seraphinianus is a rare and expensive edition, published in small editions at prices ranging from 250 to 1000 cu. e. Seraphinianus - considered a publication only for the elite. Who is Luigi Serafini? Liar and hoaxer or prophet and visionary? Is the Codex an elegant fake, or is it a true end-of-the-world testament? The answer is unlikely to ever be received. Regardless of the truth, Codex Seraphinianus will remain one of the most interesting books in human history and the strangest literary artifact of the twentieth century.

Such books do not end up in libraries, do not lie on the shelves of second-hand bookshops, literary critics do not write about them, and little is known about them. Such books challenge human consciousness and psyche, presenting a puzzle that no one has yet been able to solve.

But maybe … Maybe this book is nothing more than a superbly executed joke? Long before Serafini, there was the Voynich Manuscript, a mysterious book written about 500 years ago by an unknown author, in an unknown language, using an unknown alphabet.

Considering that the book was written in 30 months, it remains only to admire the author's imagination … or the door to a parallel world was opened for him …

The original edition of the book is a rare and expensive work and was published in two volumes (Luigi Serafini, Codex Seraphinianus, Milano: Franco Maria Ricci [I segni dell'uomo], 1981, 127 + 127 pp., 108 + 128 plates, ISBN 88 -216-0026-2 + ISBN 88-216-0027-0).

A one-volume edition was published by Abbeville Press in the USA (1st American edition, New York: Abbeville Press, 1983, 250 pp., ISBN 0-89659-428-9) and Prestel in Germany (München: Prestel, 1983, 370 pp., ISBN 3-7913-0651-0).

In Italy, at the end of 2006, a new relatively inexpensive (€ 89) edition was issued (Milano: Rizzoli, ISBN 88-17-01389-7).

Of course, the venerable audience is most attracted by the crocodile, which has become a love couple, but, believe me, he is completely lost against the background of everything else. Plants that look like killed birds and scissors and least of all - like plants, animals that are reflected in themselves, generate clouds, contain reduced copies of themselves or mechanical parts, mechanisms and aggregates in which the purpose is what is least amenable to deciphering, ceremonial outfits of unknown races and field sketches of dwellings and their inhabitants, surreal cities at dusk, day and night, decorations worn by animals, detailed classifications of creatures living in rainbows and lantern light, fish with horse manes and birds - writing pens, amazing demonstrations of surgical speech extraction and cell for words …

… Grains of analogues of all this can be found in the botanical sketches of Edward Lear and pop art of the 70s, in engravings and paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and the Dadaists, in alchemical treatises and medieval miniatures illustrating the stories of travelers and sailors. And yet, this does not in any way negate the uniqueness of the author's attempt to reproduce in our world an example of encyclopedic literature of the other world, to which at least one of us has a pass. Consequently, those who will spend time on comparative analysis will miss the chance to get their own pass:-)

They say that seeing once is much better than listening a hundred times. By the way, one idea is already in the minds: to make the best translation from an unknown language, using pictures as Virgil. An unknown language is not a lock with a lost key, a fictional language is not a calligraphomania. This is an invitation. But, as they say, here too, many are called, but few are chosen))). For some reason, few people appreciate the opportunity to prove themselves, or even consider innuendo as a personal insult. I am afraid that detective stories would also drop in price if they were published without a clue.

By the way, you might think that this is some kind of nonsense and stupidity? Perhaps it is, but they make a lot of money on it. The Moskva bookstore sells the Serafinianus Code, an encyclopedia of a fictional universe, at the price of 119,550 rubles.

In 1984, Serafini publishes an even rarer book - Pulcinellopedia (piccola) (known in Russian transcription as Polycinelepedia), in the form of a set of pencil sketches about the character of the Italian comedy del arte Pulcinella.

You can download the book Codex Seraphinianus HERE - pdf, 50Mb