Codex Seraphinianus - Contents

Contents

The book is divided into eleven chapters, partitioned into two sections. The first section appears to describe the natural world, dealing with flora, fauna, and physics. The second deals with the humanities, the various aspects of human life: clothing, history, cuisine, architecture and so on. Each chapter seems to treat a general encyclopedic topic. The topics of each separate chapter are as follows:

1. The first chapter describes many types of flora: strange flowers, trees that uproot themselves and migrate, etc.
2. The second chapter is devoted to the fauna of this world, depicting many animals that are surreal variations of the horse, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, birds, etc.
3. The third chapter deals with what seems to be a separate kingdom of odd bipedal creatures.
4. The fourth chapter deals with something that seems to be physics and chemistry, and is by far the most abstract and enigmatic.
5. The fifth chapter deals with bizarre machines and vehicles.
6. The sixth chapter explores the general humanities: biology, sexuality, various aboriginal peoples, and even shows examples of plant life and tools (such as pens and wrenches) grafted directly into the human body.
7. The seventh chapter is historical. It shows many people (some only vaguely human) of unknown significance, giving their times of birth and death. It also depicts many scenes of historical (and possibly religious) significance. Also included are examples of burial and funereal customs.
8. The eighth chapter depicts the history of the Codex's alien writing system.
9. The ninth chapter deals with food, dining practices, and clothing.
10. The tenth chapter describes bizarre games (including playing cards and board games) and athletic sports.
11. The eleventh chapter is devoted entirely to architecture.

There are a few lines of text written in French on two plates in the sixth chapter. It is a quote from Marcel Proust's "A la recherche du temps perdu: Albertine disparue" (In Search of Lost Time: Albertine Gone). The words scattered on the floor of the picture are from the same book.