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An illustrated companion to Yanko Tsvetkov’s best-selling fairy tale series Apophenia, credited to his artistic alter-ego Alphadesigner, The Schmetterschwanz Manuscript is a daring experiment in surrealist world building in the tradition of classic masterpieces like the Voynich Manuscript and Codex Seraphinianus. While those authors rely on asemic writing or constructed language to inspire a sense of mystery and wonder in their readers, Alphadesigner preemptively reveals the code of his manuscript’s elaborate alphabet in the very beginning. Yet, what is supposed to serve as a key to understanding is in fact a trick of artistic gaslighting. Although the supposedly decoded text obeys the rules of English grammar and syntax, its meaning remains obscure, and the only potential hints exist not in the actual words but in the artworks they illustrate.
The introductory essays and notes offer yet another layer of mystery, for they are written not from the author’s point of view but from that of fictional characters, scientists from the Kingdom of the Word-an imaginary country full of petty bureaucrats and pedantic librarians who worship scientific determinism and frown upon the untamed imagination of undisciplined minds.
The juxtaposition between the frivolously nonsensical illustrations and the desperate attempts of the clerks in their search for meaning is where Alphadesigner’s true talent shines-he brilliantly emulates the role of an impartial observer, satirising but also empathizing with both sides in the dispute.
Existing somewhere between pseudoscientific satire and surrealist eroticism, The Schmetterschwanz Manuscript is a brilliant addition to Tsvetkov’s Apophenia series, offering an alternative look at its picturesque world.
