An Island Apart: Dejima as a Site of Cultural Mediation in David Mitchell’s Historical Novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

This article analyzes the importance of the setting in David Mitchell’s historical novel "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" (2010). For over two centuries Dejima - an artificial island constructed in Nagasaki Bay and the site of a Dutch trading post - functioned as the sole point of contact between the Western world and Japan, which at that time pursued an isolationist policy. The novel explores the island’s double function: that of connecting the two cultures and yet keeping them apart. Due to its peculiar location - within and outside Japan - the island was not only a trading factory, but also acquired symbolic meanings. The article examines Dejima’s role in the novel as a site of (limited) cultural exchange by focusing on its dual orientation towards both Japan and the outside world, its protean status in the story, and the crucial role of translation and translators. It is also highlighted that the intercultural encounters depicted in "The Thousand Autumns" foreground the role of the island in the modernization of Japan.