### Umberto Eco From [[Umberto Eco]]'s novel, [[The Name of the Rose (1980)]]: > “'My good Adso,' my master said, 'during our whole journey I have been teaching you to recognize the evidence through which ==the world speaks to us like a great book==. [[Alanus de Insulis|Alanus de Insulis]] said that > > _omnis mundi creatura quasi liber et pictura nobis est in speculum_[^Alanus] > > and he was thinking of the endless array of symbols with which God, through His creatures, speaks to us of the eternal life. But the universe is even more talkative than Alanus thought, and it speaks not only of the ultimate things (which it does always in an obscure fashion) but also of closer things, and then it speaks quite clearly" (p. 17) ### John Donne From [[John Donne|John Donne's]] well-known [[Meditation XVII]]: > PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he knows not it tolls for him.  And perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.  The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all.  When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingraffed into that body, whereof I am a member.  ==And when she buries a man, that action concerns me; all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated==; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that library where every book shall lie open to one another; as therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come; so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness. ### Susanna Clarke This is a massive theme in [[Susanna Clarke|Clarke's]] novel, [[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004)]]: > “==_The sky spoke to him_==. > >_It was a language he had never heard before. He was not even certain there were words._ ==_Perhaps it only spoke to him in the black writing the birds made_==. _He was small and unprotected and there was no escape. He was caught between earth and sky as if cupped between two hands. They could crush him if they chose._ > > _The sky spoke to him again._ > > _"I do not understand," he said._ > > [...] > > _For a long moment he struggled to understand. The language or spell seemed tantalizingly familiar now. In a moment, he thought, he would grasp it. After all,_ ==_the world had been speaking these words to him every day of his life_==_ – it was just that he had not noticed it before . . .”_ > > [[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004)|JS & N]], ch 46 The premise of magic in the novel is that it is, effectively, learning the language of the Book of Nature: >“They are so ridiculous, these English magicians! They do everything in such a roundabout way. I tell you, Stephen, watching this fellow try to do magic is like watching a man sit down to eat his dinner with his coat on backwards, a blindfold round his eyes and a bucket over his head! When did you ever see me perform such nonsensical tricks? Draw forth my own blood or scribble words on paper?==Whenever I wish to do something, I simply speak to the air – or to the stones – or to the sunlight – or the sea – or to whatever it is and politely request them to help me==. And then, since my alliances with these powerful spirits were set in place thousands of years ago, they are only too glad to do whatever I ask.” > > [[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004)|JS & N]], ch 51 [^Alanus]: All the world's creatures, as a book and a picture, are to us as a mirror; in it our life, our death, our present condition and our passing are faithfully signified