Hi Koen,
Well, we're not quite on the same wavelength here. I'm not denying the existence of cultural influences nor suggesting that anyone can live a normal life without being influenced by the cultural presence. And I'm not suggesting that all of this doesn't have an ongoing historical existence and a reiterated cultural influence.
What I am saying is that the VMs 'appears' to be a sort "alchemical-herbal-hausbuch' type of document. That is easy enough. But where does this document originate? What is the name of the culture, the nation, the empire, the tribe where this language is written and spoken? In the 15th century, one might easily suspect that there was some valid historical source that had existed on some unexplored, distant piece of geography. That seems to be an enduring opinion.
I propose that there is no historical entity to be named as the natural, valid, cultural source of the VMs. There is no Culture V* as an actual historical society. The appearance of the existence of Culture V* is the author's creation and concoction, based on this individual's knowledge and perceptions. The author is pulling the wool over the eyes of the reader. In order to communicate secretly, there needs to be a place and a method to disguise what is intended. The VMs is a fabrication made for such a purpose. And still there must be a clear path to discover what was intended.
It is the pretense of Culture V that is the facade that obscures the hidden reality. Of course, no one can create a wholly imaginary world without some sort of cultural references. But the result is a document with non-existent cultural origins in the sense that it came from an actual society or tribe or what have you, however obscure. Obviously the elements used in some illustrations will have their own cultural origins, but they have also been manipulated in such a way as to produce the present state of confusion.
So if we really are stumbling blindly in a state of confusion, how is it that something like the Oresme cosmos suddenly pops up? Can it be considered that the VMs version of the Oresme cosmos has two parts of different pages? Can the papelonny pun be distributed on three consecutive pages? What the author does here is like the slight of hand that leaves young children with their mouths open. The VMs author exhibits a knowledge of detail where we do not know to look, like the use of scallop-shell patterns in the construction of a cloud band - the same pattern of construction as the Oresme cosmos.
However in the separation of Oresme's cosmos, as in the fabrication of the Culture V* origins, the VMs shows its deception and starts to reveal its hidden side. There is a reality behind the facade. Trickery is used to disguise. Similarity of detail and the correspondence with traditional placement are used to confirm. Appearance can be deceptive. Appearance can be intentionally ambiguous. Ambiguity can disguise reality, but it cannot contradict reality and still retain identity. And apparent ambiguity can then be redeemed through other factors, such as traditional placement or similarity of detail, but only if those factors are identified and examined. And if identification is no longer a problem, then intention certainly is.
Well, we're not quite on the same wavelength here. I'm not denying the existence of cultural influences nor suggesting that anyone can live a normal life without being influenced by the cultural presence. And I'm not suggesting that all of this doesn't have an ongoing historical existence and a reiterated cultural influence.
What I am saying is that the VMs 'appears' to be a sort "alchemical-herbal-hausbuch' type of document. That is easy enough. But where does this document originate? What is the name of the culture, the nation, the empire, the tribe where this language is written and spoken? In the 15th century, one might easily suspect that there was some valid historical source that had existed on some unexplored, distant piece of geography. That seems to be an enduring opinion.
I propose that there is no historical entity to be named as the natural, valid, cultural source of the VMs. There is no Culture V* as an actual historical society. The appearance of the existence of Culture V* is the author's creation and concoction, based on this individual's knowledge and perceptions. The author is pulling the wool over the eyes of the reader. In order to communicate secretly, there needs to be a place and a method to disguise what is intended. The VMs is a fabrication made for such a purpose. And still there must be a clear path to discover what was intended.
It is the pretense of Culture V that is the facade that obscures the hidden reality. Of course, no one can create a wholly imaginary world without some sort of cultural references. But the result is a document with non-existent cultural origins in the sense that it came from an actual society or tribe or what have you, however obscure. Obviously the elements used in some illustrations will have their own cultural origins, but they have also been manipulated in such a way as to produce the present state of confusion.
So if we really are stumbling blindly in a state of confusion, how is it that something like the Oresme cosmos suddenly pops up? Can it be considered that the VMs version of the Oresme cosmos has two parts of different pages? Can the papelonny pun be distributed on three consecutive pages? What the author does here is like the slight of hand that leaves young children with their mouths open. The VMs author exhibits a knowledge of detail where we do not know to look, like the use of scallop-shell patterns in the construction of a cloud band - the same pattern of construction as the Oresme cosmos.
However in the separation of Oresme's cosmos, as in the fabrication of the Culture V* origins, the VMs shows its deception and starts to reveal its hidden side. There is a reality behind the facade. Trickery is used to disguise. Similarity of detail and the correspondence with traditional placement are used to confirm. Appearance can be deceptive. Appearance can be intentionally ambiguous. Ambiguity can disguise reality, but it cannot contradict reality and still retain identity. And apparent ambiguity can then be redeemed through other factors, such as traditional placement or similarity of detail, but only if those factors are identified and examined. And if identification is no longer a problem, then intention certainly is.