Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed not only stands out for its imaginative and unique story, with it's incorporation of music, culture, and religion, but also how it constantly subverts literary conventions. The formatting of the book feels almost abstract: the first chapter is before the credits, the fonts constantly change, chapters repeat, and photos are scattered throughout. The novel takes the rules that you can usually rely on a book to follow and turns them on its head.
The breaking of literary conventions not only adds to the experience of reading the novel, but it also reflects themes of postmodernism. Mumbo Jumbo, like Ragtime, takes a period in history, and through a great amount of creative liberties, uses it to not only tell the story of that era, but also one that appears throughout history. Despite its fictional elements, such as made-up characters, breaking of the fourth wall, events and dialogue that is almost cartoonish, conspiracies, and magic, it still has serious, historical aspects that are a main part of the book.
When Reed breaks literary conventions, it's often by using features that are associated with history or non fiction. While its rare that you see footnotes, real photos, letters, and bibliographies in a novel, it's an expected part of a history book. For all the times that Reed deviates from history, incorporates fantasy or magic, he also makes sure to include real parts of history and cite his sources. Postmodernism blends and critiques the line often drawn between history and fiction, and Mumbo Jumbo exemplifies this by not distuinguishing historical and fictional literary conventions. If history and fiction aren't so different, then neither are the rules associated with them. Mumbo Jumbo is truly postmodernist, not only in its story but down to the formatting and structure of the book.
If a departure from literary conventions in Mumbo Jumbo isn't one associated with non-fiction, it's likely reminiscent of movies or tv shows instead. This can be seen in the novel's introduction, where it feels much more like the start of a movie or a tv show. It even begins with a cold open, and shifts all the credits to after the first chapter, something often seen in media. In an interview featured in an University of Delaware exhibition, Reed explains that, “I’ve watched television all my life, and I think my way of editing, and the speed I bring to my books, the way the plot moves, is based upon some of the television shows and cartoons I’ve seen, the way they edit.” Mumbo Jumbo doesn't hesitate from breaking the conventions of not only its genre, but of its form of media. In the same way that Jes Grew can't be restricted to conventions by the Atonists, neither can Mumbo Jumbo.
University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press. “Modes – Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo at Fifty.” Online Exhibitions, University of Delaware, 2022, exhibitions.lib.udel.edu/ishmael-reed-mumbo-jumbo/introduction/.
Hi Chloe! I found your blog really interesting. I like how you dive into Reed's ideology behind his strange style in Mumbo Jumbo, and what he has to say about the matter. I definitely agree that he does a good job making a point with every aspect of the novel.
ReplyDeleteHey Chloe! I totally agree with your take on Reed's writing style. I myself enjoyed it since I generally love to see fourth wall breaks and aspects of media outside of the ordinary. Good job pointing out how the footnotes further merge history and fiction together in this novel. Also, that's a cool bit of background on Reed that you found that explains one of his conventions. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your summary here. Reed really seems to love playing with literary conventions all throughout Mumbo Jumbo, and the strange juxtaposition between real and fictional elements (seen before in Ragtime, too) is a wonderful example of that. I also appreciate your inclusion of a quote from an interview with the author; it further confirms the discussions we've had as a class about the movie-like, occasionally cartoonish nature of the story.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Chloe! This was a really interesting expansion on the novels format. I never really considered the effect of the history book feel. I agree that Reed creates a much more innovative and engaging novel through these means. I find it especially interesting how he uses pictures and footnotes when engaging with African folklore or creating his own. It further proves his thesis and creates the sense that this novel is a sort of Afro-centric version of history. Great post!
ReplyDeleteIt totally checks out that Reed has been strongly influenced by television (and movies): I love the B-movie-style dialogue throughout the main narrative ("what is the meaning of this?" etc.), and the big "reveal" scene in chapters 52 always reminds me of the denouement of a Scooby-Doo episode. Remember too that the very end of the novel briefly turns into a screenplay, with stage directions depicting the "filming" of LaBas's car heading into Manhattan, with a "freeze-frame" for the "closing credits."
ReplyDeleteThe standard way to view these metafictional elements would be that they constantly call attention to the novel's status AS a novel--we are reminded of the author's presence, the fact that this stuff is all being shifted and manipulated and organized (or disorganized!) by "I.R.," as the author "signs" his own footnotes. But as you note, there's a weird twist in the way that the fictional text also has these trappings of academic scholarship--citations, footnotes, a really extensive "Partial Bibliography." So what is the effect of both calling attention to the fictional status of the text AND framing it as fact-based scholarship at the same time?
Hi Chloe! It is really interesting to see this comparison of Mumbo Jumbo to a movie. I don't know if you have ever seen the movie Zootopia (also about a disease spreading odd behavior), but all of the formatting of the different "scenes" and unique literary elements Reed uses remind me a lot of it, which makes sense because both do a great job building suspense and narrative. The connection to a history book also is kind of intriguing, and I agree did strength the historical aspect of Mumbo Jumbo a bit when reading. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe! You are bringing up my favorite part of the book! I think Reed's tactic of breaking writing rules is really cool to read, and I think it is also meant to illustrate the Talking Android method of ruining art to ruin the movement. By including spelling mistakes, a chapter before the front page, or two chapters 52, the reader is left to assume that the book must be invalid and gibberish. It feels messy because a Talking Android messed with it and even named it "Mumbo Jumbo". I think I spent too much time on this perspective, though, and haven't considered that it probably does not have that insane connection and that it is a postmodernist experiment. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Chole! You did a great job in explaining how Mumbo Jumbo breaks literary conventions and ties to the themes of postmodernism. I like like you pointed out the unusual formatting like the changing fonts and repeated chapters. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe! I really liked how you explained the ties between breaking literary rules and postmodernism. I also really liked the way you talked about Mumbo Jumbo similar to a history book with the photos, footnotes, and so forth, something that Reed obviously liked doing in his book to create something new and creative. Also, I want to specifically point out that even though we talked about the footnotes within the book in class, I wasn't able to fully grasp the point, but I really like how you explain it incorporating postmodernist ideas of the lines of history and fiction blending. Awesome Post!
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe!! I think that you really did a good job with describing how the book incorporates different ways of writing a fiction book, but he actually incorporates History as well by using the same format as a history book. I find it very interesting that you say that the start of the novel is like a movie or a TV show because I never thought about that. Good Job!!
ReplyDeleteHi Chloe! Great job on your blogpost, I really like how you pointed out Reed's unconventional structure as a reflection of postmodernism. I especially like your connection to TV and film, which had me thinking of Mumbo Jumbo's storytelling like a collage of different methods. It's almost like I.R. is saying that written works can be just as fast-paced as visual media. Awesome post!
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