by Luigi Serafini

isbn: 0517475146
subject: Fiction and Literature, Reference, Graphic Novels
finished: 1/23/2000

The Codex is an encyclopedia for a fictional world, written in a fictional language. It's divided into a number of sections (each with its own table of contents) on subjects such as plants, animals, inhabitants, machines, clothing, and architecture. After only a glance it becomes apparent that Serafini was not attempting to create a consistent alternate world. Rather, the Codex is sort of an elaborate pun on, or parody of, the real world. A lot of the odd effect comes from parallelism between illustrations on a page -- Serafini plays with our desire to find patterns by providing just enough consistency to draw us into looking for an internal logic where there is none. Although it's difficult to find a copy (I used interlibrary loan) I would highly recommend taking a look through this strange and beautiful book.