Reader Amazon.com: Reed's Mumbo Jumbo is, in the words of the author himself, a "gumbo" of styles and content, and consequently it reads quite differently from a more conventional narrative guided by a single style and voice. In fact, in some of his earliest interviews Reed explains that his interest in this novel (as well as a couple previous ones) was to explore dadaistic-collage forms of writing, and in the opinion of this reviewer he succeeds beautifully in Mumbo Jumbo. The use of literary collage immediately brings to mind W. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, the latter of whom Reed actually met in the mid-Sixties. It's likely that Gysin's views on extending collage techniques from the visual arts to the literary had at least an indirect influence on Reed's approach to Mumbo Jumbo. Another novel (which even mentions Reed by name in its narrative on p. 588!) called Gravity's Rainbow shows similar use of collage as a means of subverting more normal narrative tendencies. So then, besides Gysin there's also a Pynchon connection. And one last thing: Mumbo Jumbo has "changed" with time--that is, if you find a copy of the book from, say, 1978, and compare it to one from, say, 2000, you'll find that some of the photos in the old version have been replaced by different photos. The reader is never told this outright, and Reed never explains if there's a reason behind it, but . . . well, I guess it's just more of that random-factor dadaism rearing its subsersive head. WEB page of Ishmael Reed: "In Mumbo Jumbo, Reed expands on the neo-hoodooism of the Loop Garoo Kid, in an effort to create and define an Afro-American aesthetic based on voodoo, Egyptian mythology, and improvisational musical forms, an aesthetic that can stand up against the Judeo-Christian tradition, rationalism, and technology. Set in Harlem during the 1920's, Mumbo Jumbo is a tragicomical analysis of the Harlem Renaissance's failure to sustain its artistic promise. Reed's protagonist is PaPa LaBas, an aging hoodoo detective and cultural diagnostician, and LaBas' name, "over there" in French, reveals that his purpose is to reconnect Afro-Americans with their cultural heritage by reunifying the Text of Jes Grew, literally the Egyptian Book of Thoth. Reed takes the phrase Jes Grew from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Topsy and James Weldon Johnson's description of Afro-American music's unascribed development, but in the novel Jes Grew is a contagion, connected with the improvisational spirit of ragtime and jazz, that begins to spread across America in the Twenties. It is an irrational force that threatens to overwhelm the dominant, repressive traditions of established culture. LaBas' efforts to unify and direct this unpredictable force are opposed by the Wallflower Order of the Knights Templar, an organization dedicated to neutralize the power of Jes Grew in order to protect their privileged status. LaBas fails to reunify the text, a parallel to the dissipation of the Harlem Renaissance's artistic potential, but the failure is seen as temporary, and the novel's indeterminate conclusion looks forward hopefully to a time when these artistic energies can be reignited. The novel's title is double-edged. "Mumbo Jumbo" is a racist, colonialist phrase used to describe the misunderstood customs and language of dark-skinned people, an approximation of some critics' description of Reed's unorthodox fictional method. But "mumbo jumbo" also refers to the power of imagination, the cultural alternative that can free Afro-Americans. A text of and about texts,Mumbo Jumbocombines the formulas of detective fiction with the documentary paraphenalia scholarship: footnotes, illustrations, and a bibliography. Thus, in the disclosure scene required of any good detective story, LaBas, acting the part of interlocutor, provides a lengthy and erudite explication of the development of Jes Grew that begins with a reinterpretation of the myth of Osiris. The parodic scholarship of the Mumbo Jumbo undercuts the assumed primacy of the European tradition, and strenuously argues that Afro-American artists should discover their distinct heritage.Amazon.com Reader review: The hero is PaPa LaBas, a New Orleans "houngan" who is trying to discover the source (the Text) of a "psychic plague" called "Jes Grew" which is sweeping the nation in the 1920s (whether you interpret it to mean Ragtime or the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance). J.G.C.s, or its "carriers," are overcome by a passionate desire to dance and have a good time. Their militant wing, the "Mu'tafikah" (I love that name), are involved in activities like art-napping non-Western artifacts (African masks and sculpture, a giant Olmec head from Central America) from the Center of Art Detention (which not surprisingly, has the same address as the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and returning them to the places where they come from. They're opposed by the "Atonists" (the bluenoses, those dedicated to the glorification of Western culture, the Protestant work ethic, etc.) and its affiliated organization, the Wallflower Order (whose motto is "Lord, if I can't dance, no one will"). Reed's work always lampoons historical figures, fictional and literary characters, and especially religion. The character named "Hinckle Von Vampton" (a parody of Carl Van Vechten, the literary agent for many black writers in the 1920s) is a Wallflower member who infiltrates the Harlem community to manipulate its artists and destroy the movement. He plans to start a magazine featuring a Talking Android who will tell the J.G.C.s that Jes Grew is not ready for primetime and "owes a large debt to Irish Theater." Reed satirizes everyone and everything from Warren G. Harding's ancestry to Irene Castle, the dance instructor who was used by the Establishment to show Americans the "Castle Way," and denounce the so-called Animal Dances (many with Black origins, like the "Turkey Trot," the "Bunny Hug," the "Chicken Scratch, the "Possum Trot," etc) as "ugly," "ungraceful," and "out of fashion." You always learn something about American history and culture by reading an Ishmael Reed novel, although not always immediately. At the top of page 184 is a photo of what appears to be a black clergyman surrounded by three rows of mostly African-American men in formal wear, including W.E.B. Du Bois. The photo at the bottom of the page is of a diverse group, including the author, standing around a statue of Buddha with mountains in the background. Does it mean anything? I'm not sure, however, I think that during this period there was resistance to jazz music by some of the African-American elite, and although I'm not qualified to comment on Du Bois's views, the photo could be a kind of satirizing. I know that James Weldon Johnson (who is referred to in the novel, as are Harlem Renaissance figures Claude McKay, Wallace Thurman, Countee Cullen, and the fictional Nathan Brown) praised Black music and co-wrote some famous music and lyrics. But I'm not even going to venture a guess about the intended target of Reed's satire in the character of Hubert "Safecracker" Gould, Von Vampton's colleague who delivers the hilarious epic poem, "Harlem Tom Toms" (for BJF) to a high-society audience. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.