Meditations on Christ's wandering uterus (or Christ as hysteric), based on Huysmans' writings concerning Matthias Grünewald's Crucifixion. uterus When the body of Christ was autopsied, there was found one wandering uterus that had moored itself in the chest cavity, near the heart. It was made of white cream, though wrinkled like the skin on boiled milk, or like the skin of too-old fruit. Two small, pearl-like gonads were attached like buds on a dead vine. When a knife pierced the organ, what was found inside comprised a mysticism of pain and invisible, ineffable, incoherent symptoms. mardi Mardi: On Tuesdays, the Greek physicians believed, the uterus lodged itself in the throat, which accounted for a sense of choking, or globus hystericus. When the doctor pushed a finger into Christ's throat, he could feel the uterine wall pushing back, warm and firm. (The doctor has placed a fetid herb on his tongue and asked him to swallow it. Supposedly, to inhale the aromas of this plant would effect a movement of the uterus downward from the throat towards its normal position, above the testes.) grünewald's christ castrated by syphilis The Pathography of Jesus Christ A play in two parts PART ONE The gallery of genteel onlookers peers at the soaked loincloth, eager for a sidelong glance at the divine member, the length and girth of which promises to be a spectacle deserving of a waxworks copy, but the matted swaddling, rendered semi-sheer by a liquid film of curdling vinegar and blood, suggests (perhaps) to the most determined spectator insistent upon achieving an answer, a mere wound in the shape of a chancre, the engorged petals of which vibrate tremblingly with each shudder that travels the length of the suspended body. PART TWO (A voice from offstage) Your florescent patchwork resembles the chancre-y bloom; your mottled roseate flesh inscribes an ataxic shriek. Your vapors resemble a spiritual euphoria; your vapors resemble demonic possession, or your vapors resemble a delicacy of the senses which is the stuff of poetry. Amen. CHORUS (You are crushing us with your syphilitic bloom, you are leaving us no escape.) christ's wandering uterus Christ's wandering uterus traveled hungrily throughout his body. It devoured other organs in its path and erupted in swollen florescence under the sensitive skin of the most divine parts of the body: it lodged itself in his groin and wrapped itself around his deferens, it tangled around his testes and choked a pink sap out of them. Christ's wandering uterus wandered with great appetite. It gnawed at his internal organs and devoured his stomach. It burst his intestines and could not pass through. christ as hysteric (christ of the salpêtrière) Leçcons du mardi: The cross is rolled out into the amphitheater. The body of Christ is sallow and unwell. His skin is too soft and spoiled like watery, stinky cream, and the extremities are blue due to poor circulation. The doctor is presenting the trembling-cream body of Christ to the spectators, demonstrating how, by taking the stigmatized wrist in his hand and applying a spoon to it, he is able to scoop up a small portion of spoiled flesh, which is marbled with blood. The second spectacular demonstration purposed to exhibit the magically necrotic locations on the hysteric's body. The doctor pierced the skin on one leg with a long needle and not a limb moved, nor did His eyes move, or seem to see anything. The hysteric daydreaming about Golgotha When she considered Christ pinned upon the cross, she found herself transfixed by the image of his leg in her mind, the leg spilling open like an overripe fruit with pungent corporeal liquor. There was nothing above this leg, the imaginary map of the body describing its poles at the hip and ankle respectively, and all the movement and energy of the body was concentrated in this sole member. The shape of the leg was always lean and twisted, crystalized by malnourishment. The knee protruded like a knob or a bell from beneath the skin, threatening to break through, but paralyzed. The leg was stiffened, pinned, heavier than bad fruit. When this leg came to visit her at intervals, the rapture was marvelous. by Amanda Manitach