...Of all the lesser islands in the archipelago, the one to be avoided by visitors is Atrocla. This was once the wealthiest of the islands, so much so that all citizens were paid a monthly allowance by the state instead of having to pay taxes to it. The notion then emerged that if a man is too happy he wil begin to degenerate, and ways were sought to introduce a balance of pain and pleasure into island life. Institutions were set up to determine how to achive this end in accordance with the Ars complacatoria, the art of so complicating all the demands of life that not even a genius can disentangle them. An increasingly great torrent of obscure and difficult laws were promulgated, along with rules and regulations covering every aspect of day-to-day life. The result was that in a very short time virtually all islanders had been found guilty of one or other of the laws and duly punished. Those who evaded punishment soon came to be regarded with great suspicion by their fellows.
All laws passed in Atrocla are recorded in the 350,000 volumes stored in the National Library. The catalogues are kept under lock and key to prevent any leakage of information. In order to further frustrate those seeking knowlege of the laws, there are now two categories of librarian--those who give no information at all and those who give only false and misleading information. The state assiduously cultivates the art of statistics, thereby ensuring that the population is perpetually preoccupied with filling in forms, a task which not infrequently takes all day and half the night. In order to process the statistics thus obtained, an army of officials--all enjoying opulent salaries--has grown to vast proportions.
Tax is levied on everything. Every word in the language is carefully assessed for its fiscal value to the State; vices, virtues, and follies are all taxed. Even honesty itself is subject to taxation. The result is that the wheels of the State absorb all the gold that passes through them. On Atrocla, the State has finally achived the minimum affect with the maximum possible effort.
The above was taken verbatum from The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi.
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