Two things most strike me about this thing: the scale of difficulty and expense it would take to create it, and the potential hazard to the author raised by creating a potentially heterodox work. An educated person had to be the creator. An insane one would have surely been caught out by Church authorities eventually, so he had to be sane enough to conceal his activities and wealthy enough to afford them. Therefore the book must mean *something.*
This was a very interesting read and I have never come across this book before. I like Darger too. Have you seen Tacuinum Sanitatis? You might enjoy it. I am still trying to find a digital copy of one of them to look at more closely.
I just found your article. I wonder if the plants drawn belong to a specific region or not. In the article I only found the idea that they "were not known in the German area." But are they common European plants, for example? Because the Aztec hypothesis would imply a completely different flora, wouldn’t it?
The thing that always intrigues me about the Voynich Maniscript, is how come modern linguists with their machine learning and statystical analysis haven't difinitively figured out whether it's a hoax/gibberish or not. Surely, there are universal language rules that a XV-century hoax would break, no?
Two things most strike me about this thing: the scale of difficulty and expense it would take to create it, and the potential hazard to the author raised by creating a potentially heterodox work. An educated person had to be the creator. An insane one would have surely been caught out by Church authorities eventually, so he had to be sane enough to conceal his activities and wealthy enough to afford them. Therefore the book must mean *something.*
That's why I lean towards thinking of it as something akin to outsider art.
Thanks for this article, it was a fascinating read ! I especially liked the ending. Not all mysteries need to be solved.
I hope that it will remain a mystery as well. We need to wonder indeed.
This was a very interesting read and I have never come across this book before. I like Darger too. Have you seen Tacuinum Sanitatis? You might enjoy it. I am still trying to find a digital copy of one of them to look at more closely.
I just found your article. I wonder if the plants drawn belong to a specific region or not. In the article I only found the idea that they "were not known in the German area." But are they common European plants, for example? Because the Aztec hypothesis would imply a completely different flora, wouldn’t it?
The thing that always intrigues me about the Voynich Maniscript, is how come modern linguists with their machine learning and statystical analysis haven't difinitively figured out whether it's a hoax/gibberish or not. Surely, there are universal language rules that a XV-century hoax would break, no?