The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet

by David Mitchell

“Mr. de Zoet not believe what he is told when boy?” But mine is the true faith. Jacob pities Ogawa. Whilst yours is idolatry.

what is it that directs the minds of the powerful? The answer is ‘belief.’ Beliefs that are ignoble or idealistic; democratic or Confucian; Occidental or Oriental; timid or bold; clearsighted or delusional. Power is informed by belief that this path, and not another, must be followed. What, then, or where, is the womb of belief? What, or where, is the crucible of ideology?

The purest believers, Shiroyama thinks, are the truest monsters. “Your order dies with you, Lord Abbot. Jiritsu’s