Surreal Flora, Alien Fauna: The Inscrutable Codex Seraphianianus

Last night, lovely Bibi pinged me and breathlessly asked me, "Have you ever heard of the Codex Seraphianianus?" I had to admit I had not, but Bibi was quick to supply me with a surplus of links about this remarkable volume.

Briefly, here's the history of the Codex: described by Baird Searles as an encyclopedia guide to an alien universe, written in a bizarre, untranslatable invented language. Only the system to number the pages has been cracked: otherwise, no one really knows what it says, though Wikipedia has broad descriptions of its chapters: the first chapter is about alien flora, the second to alien fauna, the eighth to the history of the Codex's writing system, the eleventh to architecture and so on.

What's especially interesting about the text is that it isn't some mysterious relic manuscript left behind by a medieval madman: the author is an Italian architect named Luigi Serafini. Luigi is still alive (prompting an incredible article in Believer Mag with the subtitle "How mysterious is a mysterious text if the author is still alive and emailing?") but Serafini remains mute about his book.

However, Believer showed the manuscript to Arthur C. Danto, art critic for The Nation, who was quick to point out that the copyright was not held by Serafini, but by an Italian aristocrat named Franco Maria Ricci. The plot thickens.

Perhaps the best observation on the Codex is by Shelley Jackson, author of the hypertext novel Patchwork Girl:

“It would become a drastically different book the minute it became completely translated,” Jackson said, “which of course could be part of the plan. He could have conceived this as a sort of embryonic or chrysalitic work that at some point would take a kind of completely different shape. But the way I see it, it’s probably meant to hover on the verge of scrutability, to constantly hold forth the possibility of being read but stay resistant at the same time. It’s important that it bothers you with the feeling that there is some content that you ought to be able to extract from it in a normal discursive kind of way. It’s meant to appeal to the rational or exegetical urge. It wants to be interpreted but it won’t let you, and it’s very interesting the way it teasingly asks to be read and then refuses. You could see this as a really really elaborate inkblot. It’s never going to completely yield to you in the sense of giving you insight into the artist’s intentions, so it kind of reverts you back on yourself and makes you notice what you’re noticing and notice the associations that you make. It’s a kind of springboard for your own creative musings.”

Here are some additional links about the Codex:

Codex Seraphianus [Occult Review]

Photoset of the Codex [Flickr]

Entry on the Codex [Wikipedia]

Bittorrent of the entire Codex [Grey Lodge Occult]

Anyone have any more information? My interest is certainly piqued.