Anomalies in Mumbo Jumbo - Essay Example

Anomalies in Mumbo Jumbo

• Introduction

“Mumbo Jumbo” is a novel written by Ishmael Reed in 1972. The novel is recognized as one of the most important books in Western Canon by critic Harold Bloom. The typography and format of the novel are very unique. It makes allusion to several stylistic conventions and typographies which are not associated with “Mumbo Jumbo”. The text of the novel is like a script of a movie with many characteristics such as fade-in, freeze frame, credits, which is followed by a title page along with the publication. Reed’s novel views the crisis of post modern critique and modernity solely within the White people of North America and Europe. Mumbo Jumbo is considered as modern paradigm which assumed post modernism. The focus of the essay is to find the stylistic anomalies in the novel and different style used by the writer in his novel.

• Anomalies in the novel

The novel of Ishmael Reed uses Harlem Renaissance and age of Jazz in order to undermine the instrumental reason of the novel. The themes used in the novel are Jes Grew and reclaiming history. The novel is about music, religion, art, class society and culture. The novel describes the condition of Afro-Americans who were victimized by the white oppressors. The white oppressors were responsible for destroying the cultural connections between the Afro-Americans to their native place i.e. Africa. The novel focuses on the culture and music of the Afro-Americans that were developed by them with the exposure of them in the American society. The music composed by the Black Africans is blues, ragtime and jazz. The novel highlights the innovations of the Afro-American people rather than the traditional communities of African people. The novel is full of magical techniques which were used by Jes Grew in order to control the power. The text of “Mumbo Jumbo” can be used as political and spiritual unification of both black and non black victims. Reed attempted to create the text for today (Paravishini). However, Reed used history and mythology in order to serve the requirements of ruling classes. The protagonists of the novel are Voodoo followers and the novel contains different terminology of Voodoo philosophy. It is an effective art present in the novel. Apart from that, there are many mythological magic figures magic and have the capabilities to deal with the devil. Format of “Mumbo Jumbo” is quite different from other traditional novels. A tale is illustrated in the novel which is full of pictures, collages, photographs, etc which are related to the text of the novel. Some photographs are very much similar to the books describing African-American history. Reed was influenced by Jazz music and as a result of it he improvised on the word “jazz” in his novel by making the reading enjoyable to the readers. “Mumbo Jumbo” is based on postmodern literature. Different post modern elements are present in the novel. But, the inclusion of magical things in the novel text makes the plot of the text different from other novels of same genre. Various artistic forms and forms of pastiche are presented by Reed in the novel. Artistic forms include jazz music, news clips, drawings, photographs, American history, etc. In many part of “Mumbo Jumbo” Reed satirized the mainstream Western Culture (Piatkowski). The use of satires and parodies in the novel portrays the difference between modernists and post modernist literature. On analyzing “Mumbo Jumbo”, readers can find it very different from other normal detective novels in terms of cultural pluralism thinking, anti-traditional thoughts, improvisations and indeterminacy of the nature of the text. Unlike other novelists, Reed used jazz and other African American symbols of culture frequently in his novel. The intertexuality and linear narrative form portrays the nature of the novel in varying degree. “Mumbo Jumbo” is more of a television detective movie rather than a novel. It dramatizes a confrontation which is pointed towards African and European centric thoughts. The readers of this book sometimes can get confused whether they are reading a novel, a Voodoo narrative, a history book or a spell (Mason). Apart from the elements of postmodern literature, there are various forms of elements present in the novel such as science fiction theory; fantasy tale; techniques of movie; romance; American history; black dance; Western history; New Orleans jazz etc. Reed challenged the other postmodern novelists with subaltern and marginalized subject. Reed wanted preservation of power and differences in individual. The way of presentation of Voodoo in the novel reflects the orthodox, rigid, norms and conventions of life rather than normal values of life such as adaptability, flexibility, individual creativity and mystery.

• Challenges of Reed towards expectation of readers

Traditional detective novel of postmodern literature have clear distinct features of elements of postmodernism and a particular format of a detective story. Postmodernism is an approach which is very different from the approach of modernism. Readers will find difficulties on reading this book. They will not easily find the type of genre of this book. Reed mixed different approaches in his detective fiction novel. Readers on the beginning of the novel will find an essence of history which will stimulate them to research about the historical topics regarding African-American history. They will also research about the culture, traditions, and the magical elements of the novel. Readers will also find many relation of one topic to another such as: art to magic; song to dance; religion to social class of people. The novel depends on disorientation of readers. Mumbo Jumbo is not sticking to any semblance of a traditional convention of novel. Apart from that, the lines of the novel are blurred continuously by Reed which denotes traditional formats. The western culture is very challenging in this novel because in one part Reed upscales the pros of Western convention and in some parts he satirizes these conventions (Dumain). Readers find difficulties in understanding the genre of novel by the application of mix of styles in the novel. There is a particular technique of reading this novel. Mumbo Jumbo is a novel of different genre. A reader has to apply variety of approaches in reading the novel. One of the approaches is conventional methodology. Conventional methodology is referred to the normal reading style of the reader while reading other normal traditional novel of detective fiction genre. But reading this novel by conventional methodology, reader will not find any similarity with other traditional novels. The genre of the novel as described by Reed himself is a poetic conjuring. Neo-Hoodoo is the tradition followed by Reed in his novel. Reed advised the readers to use spiritual approach to this artifact. The spiritual approach in reading the artifact includes a relic which is embedded by spiritual powers and it belongs to the tradition of Neo-Hoodoo. To gain an in-depth understanding of the novel, a reader must have to use spiritual approach at the time of reading the novel. The author suggested that the readers should educate themselves about Mojo and Nkisi bags. These are the two models the readers should know about the sacred objects of African derived regions. Reed in his novel mixed fictional characters, portraits of historical figures, sound bites from different subjects that range from Greek philosophy to ragtime. Mumbo Jumbo is interlaced with many textual and pictorial elements which are borrowed from non-belletristic and external sources. The novel contains 104 items of bibliography at the end of the book. The bibliography is drawn from several disciplines such as history, psychology, religion, mythology, economics, music, life sciences, etc. The beginning and end of the novel is very different from other traditional novel. The beginning of the novel is like of a movie format whereas the end of the novel has bibliography drawn from different disciples of subject. If the beginning and the end of the novel is omitted then the novel will fall under the category of postmodernism and jazz. Both these genres operate from notions of incompleteness, fluidity and indeterminacy. The novel will be like that of a bebop composition without its origin. It will mimic the beginning of the novel by its different nature of ending (inconclusive ending). Mumbo Jumbo follows the patterns of trumpet, two horns and saxophone. These themes are announced in unison. However, Reed’s novel agitates, remarks, and refuses conformation of desire of the readers.

• Conclusion

Mumbo Jumbo is a postmodern detective fiction genre novel which is very different from the traditional format of other novels of this genre. Anomalies of this novel are described above in a detailed way so that the readers will gain an insight about different approaches of reading the novel. However, Reed challenged the expectations of the readers in his novel. Readers thought that this novel will be like a normal traditional postmodern detective novel. But this novel consists of many themes which will create confusion on the minds of the readers in understanding the elements used by Reed in his novel. The essay successfully explained the thesis statement which is mentioned above. However, Reed also provided solution about the approach, a reader should adopt while reading the novel. Following his approach one can easily understand the novel and its magical elements along with other traditional elements.