Codex Seraphinianus

Back from a hiatus to work on my grad school applications, get some work in, and
begin heavy fretting over my future...

Apologies if all the following information is just duplicated by previous messages...

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In a recent message (read via the Digest):

> First, the not.  About that frantic message I sent out about staying in
>Germany for 10 weeks, you can ignore that.
> Second, has anyone heard of this thing called the Codex by Sarafina, an
>Italian?
That sounds familiar. I'm pretty sure Douglas Hofstadter wrote something
about it in one of his books. I'll see if I can find out where that was.

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It's in Metamagical Themas, as a postscript for the article "Stuff and Nonsense."
It seems that the language and script are totally obscure:

"The explanation [of a particularly bizarre illustration] is all there for anyone
to read, if only they can decipher Serafinian. Unfortunately, no one knows that
language. Fortunately, on another page there is one picture of a scholar
standing by what is apparently a Rosetta Stone. Unfortunately, the only
language on it, besides Serafinian itself, is an unknown kind of heiroglyphics.
Thus the stone is of no help unless you already know Serafinian. Oh well..."

(Metamagical Themas, p. 229)

It's expensive as hell but it seems to be worth it...Have to track this one down
for myself, if I find some extra money somewhere.

There's also an intense cult following out there, and people trying to decode it.
Worth a shot, I guess. Here's a page from it, showing a table of the script (I
found this via Google, 'course):

http://www.io.com/~iareth/matrix.jpg

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Back to my conlang, after a layoff. Something to take my mind off my dwindling (?)
graduate school hopes.

Alfred

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Last Good Book Read:  Courtly Culture: Art and Literature in the High Middle Ages, by Joachim Bumke

AIM screen name:  alfredhw


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