The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet: A Novel by David Mitchell
Authors: David Mitchell
Tags: 07 Historical Fiction
Ads: Link
' He waves one finger like a conductor's baton. 'A-one, a-two, a-three . . .'
' "In-tus-sus- cep -tion," ' the students falter. ' "Intus-sus- cep -tion." '
'A terminal condition where an upper portion of the intestine passes into a lower, thus ly . . .' The doctor holds up a piece of sailcloth, stitched like a trouser leg. 'This is the colon.' He narrows one end in his fist, and feeds it backwards inside the cloth tube towards the other end. ' Ouch and itai . Diagnosis is difficult: its symptoms being the classic alimentary triad, namely, Mr Ikematsu?'
'Abdomen pain, groin swelling . . .' He massages his temples to loosen the third. 'Ah! Blood in faeces.'
'Good: death by intussusception or,' he looks at Jacob, 'in the vernacular, "shitting out your own intestines" is, as you would expect, a laborious affair. Its Latin name is " miserere mei ", translatable as "Lord Have Mercy." The smoke glister, however, can reverse this wrong,' he pulls the knotted end of the sailcloth tube out again, 'by puffing in such a density of smoke that the "slippage" is reversed; and the intestine restored to its natural state. Domburger: in guerno for favours granted, shall loan his gluteus maximus to medical science that I may demonstrate the passage of smoke "through caverns measureless to man" from anus to oesophagus, whence smoke trickles through his nostrils like incense from a stone dragon, though not, alas, so sweet-scented, given its malodorous voyage . . .'
Jacob begins to understand. 'Surely, you don't intend--'
'Remove your breeches. We are all men - plus one lady - of medicine.'
'Doctor.' The Sick Room is disagreeably cool. 'I never consented to this .'
'To treat nerves,' Marinus flips Jacob over with an agility belying the doctor's partial lameness, 'ignore them. Eelattu: let the seminarians inspect the apparatus. Then we begin.'
'A fine joke,' wheezes Jacob, under fourteen stone of Dutch physician, 'but--'
Marinus unhooks the now-squirming clerk's braces.
' No , Doctor! No! Your little joke has gone far e nough . . .'
VII
Tall House on Dejima
Early on Tuesday the 27th August, 1799
The bed shakes its sleeper awake; two of its legs snap, tipping Jacob on to the floor, whacking his jaw and knee. Merciful Christ is his first thought. The Shenandoah' s magazine is exploded . But the spasm seizing Tall House grows stronger and faster. Joists groan; plaster patters like grapeshot; a window casement flies from its mount and the lurching room is lit apricot; the mosquito net enwraps Jacob's face and the unappeasable violence is magnified threefold, fivefold, tenfold, and the bed drags itself across the room like a wounded beast. A frigate is unloosing a broadside , Jacob thinks, or a man-o'-war . A candlestick hops in dithyrambic circles; sheaves of paper from high shelves swoop in loops. Don't let me die here , Jacob prays, seeing his skull smashed under beams and yolky brains dashed in Dejima's dust. Prayer grips the pastor's son: raw-throated prayer, to the Jehovah of the early Psalms, O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn Thyself to us again! Jacob is answered by roof-tiles smashing on Long Street and cows lowing and goats bleating. Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it; heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh . Glass panes shatter into false diamonds, timber cracks like bones, Jacob's sea-chest is tossed by undulating planks, the water jug spills and the chamber pot is upended and Creation herself is being undone and God God God , he implores, bid it cease bid it cease bid it cease!
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah . Jacob shuts his eyes. Silence is peace. He thanks Providence for subduing the earthquake and thinks, Dear Christ, the warehouses! My mercury calomel! He snatches his clothes, steps over the flattened door and meets Hanzaburo emerging from his nest. Jacob barks, 'Guard my room!' but the boy does not
' "In-tus-sus- cep -tion," ' the students falter. ' "Intus-sus- cep -tion." '
'A terminal condition where an upper portion of the intestine passes into a lower, thus ly . . .' The doctor holds up a piece of sailcloth, stitched like a trouser leg. 'This is the colon.' He narrows one end in his fist, and feeds it backwards inside the cloth tube towards the other end. ' Ouch and itai . Diagnosis is difficult: its symptoms being the classic alimentary triad, namely, Mr Ikematsu?'
'Abdomen pain, groin swelling . . .' He massages his temples to loosen the third. 'Ah! Blood in faeces.'
'Good: death by intussusception or,' he looks at Jacob, 'in the vernacular, "shitting out your own intestines" is, as you would expect, a laborious affair. Its Latin name is " miserere mei ", translatable as "Lord Have Mercy." The smoke glister, however, can reverse this wrong,' he pulls the knotted end of the sailcloth tube out again, 'by puffing in such a density of smoke that the "slippage" is reversed; and the intestine restored to its natural state. Domburger: in guerno for favours granted, shall loan his gluteus maximus to medical science that I may demonstrate the passage of smoke "through caverns measureless to man" from anus to oesophagus, whence smoke trickles through his nostrils like incense from a stone dragon, though not, alas, so sweet-scented, given its malodorous voyage . . .'
Jacob begins to understand. 'Surely, you don't intend--'
'Remove your breeches. We are all men - plus one lady - of medicine.'
'Doctor.' The Sick Room is disagreeably cool. 'I never consented to this .'
'To treat nerves,' Marinus flips Jacob over with an agility belying the doctor's partial lameness, 'ignore them. Eelattu: let the seminarians inspect the apparatus. Then we begin.'
'A fine joke,' wheezes Jacob, under fourteen stone of Dutch physician, 'but--'
Marinus unhooks the now-squirming clerk's braces.
' No , Doctor! No! Your little joke has gone far e nough . . .'
VII
Tall House on Dejima
Early on Tuesday the 27th August, 1799
The bed shakes its sleeper awake; two of its legs snap, tipping Jacob on to the floor, whacking his jaw and knee. Merciful Christ is his first thought. The Shenandoah' s magazine is exploded . But the spasm seizing Tall House grows stronger and faster. Joists groan; plaster patters like grapeshot; a window casement flies from its mount and the lurching room is lit apricot; the mosquito net enwraps Jacob's face and the unappeasable violence is magnified threefold, fivefold, tenfold, and the bed drags itself across the room like a wounded beast. A frigate is unloosing a broadside , Jacob thinks, or a man-o'-war . A candlestick hops in dithyrambic circles; sheaves of paper from high shelves swoop in loops. Don't let me die here , Jacob prays, seeing his skull smashed under beams and yolky brains dashed in Dejima's dust. Prayer grips the pastor's son: raw-throated prayer, to the Jehovah of the early Psalms, O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn Thyself to us again! Jacob is answered by roof-tiles smashing on Long Street and cows lowing and goats bleating. Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it; heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh . Glass panes shatter into false diamonds, timber cracks like bones, Jacob's sea-chest is tossed by undulating planks, the water jug spills and the chamber pot is upended and Creation herself is being undone and God God God , he implores, bid it cease bid it cease bid it cease!
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah . Jacob shuts his eyes. Silence is peace. He thanks Providence for subduing the earthquake and thinks, Dear Christ, the warehouses! My mercury calomel! He snatches his clothes, steps over the flattened door and meets Hanzaburo emerging from his nest. Jacob barks, 'Guard my room!' but the boy does not
Similar Books
