Surgeons are Apes
“oh, if they only “prescribed”…they couldn’t do much harm! Hof Richter was out of everything…But those bastards always wanted to operate! anything, any way, hernia, otitis (1), warts, cysts!…they all wanted to slice…they wanted to be surgeons!…it’s an intersting fact, even in normal times, that the screwball bone-setters, chiropracters, faith-healers, fakirs etc. are never satisfied to dish out advice, pills, phials, good-luck charms, or caramels…oh no!… they’ve got to have Grand Opera!….the real thing!….they’ve got to see people bleeding…throbbing…oh, I won’t go as far as Daudet, but it seems pretty obvious…that surgery, even the most legal and official kind…has a good deal of the Roman Circus about it!…human sacrifice a la Tartuffe!…and the victims want more and more! absolutely masochistic! they want everything cut off or out…nose, bosom, ovaries…and the surgeons make hay! precision butchers, watchmakers!…your son’s going into it? …has he got the real assassin’s instinct?…innate?…the old Anthropithecus (2)inside him? is he a born trepanner(3), brain ladler, Cro-Magnon?…good!…good!…excellent! a cave man? splendid! tell him to sign up! He’s got what it takes!…surgery’s his cookie! he’s got the makings of a great surgeon!…the ladies, so pinheaded, so sadistic, will swoon at the mere sight of his hands…”oh, what hands!…what hands!”…they’ll go crazy! they’ll get down on their knees and beg him to take everything! and not wait! their money! their dowry! their uterus! their essential! their tits! disembowel them completely! …turn their peritoneum(4) inside out… clean them like rabbits! their guts…their organs! several pounds, a whole trayful!…oh wonderful darling assassin!
1. Otitis is any of several disorders involving infection and/or inflammation of the internal or external ear.
2. Anthropithecus: African ape
3. trepanner:
one who operates on with a trephine.
so, tre·phine (trÄ-fÄ«n’)
A cylindrical or crown saw for the removal of a disk of bone, especially from the skull, or removal of other firm tissue such as that of the cornea.
4. peritoneum: membrane that forms the lining of the abdominal cavity, it both supports the abdominal organs and serves as a conduit for their blood and lymph vessels and nerves.
Louis-Ferdidnand Celine (author of the above) is getting me through some writers block. The way out is to form opinions. Unfortunately I don’t have any. I am in a strange mood, where I don’t believe in anything, and can’t make a decision. It’s times like this where a strong opinion needn’t be good or true to be passionately believed. I’m ripe for a cult or a war.
Damn that’s some good shit. Gotta hit up the sfpl for some more. Why don’t you use other people’s opinions for a little while — might help you get started.
Comment by JackFlibb — August 17, 2006 @ 12:10 pm
writers block is like the 8 of swords in a deck of tarot cards: it is self-imposed isolation. You are THE wordsmith of the east side. Inspiration is every where, just waiting to be discovered. Go find it…
Comment by e. march — August 17, 2006 @ 4:53 pm