Reed's Storytelling Style
Ishmael Reed has unique writing style in Mumbo Jumbo. It is unlike any other book I've read. The most notable characteristic of his style is that everything seems to be unorthodox. They perspective in which the story is told differs from most books, the formatting is atypical, two of the chapters are labeled the same, there are no quotes when characters are speaking, etc. At first, I was constantly confused with everything going on, but after a while my brain came to accept the changes. So why does Reed include all of these odd details?
One of the most odd ways Reed tells the story, is through the telling of the detective story to discover the text. Reed uses evidence that makes no sense, like when Black Herman dreamed the location of the book. Typical detective stories follow clear evidence and is easy to follow for a common person. The most unordinary thing about the detective story is that it has no conclusion. Nearly all traditional detective stories have a satisfying end, but in Mumbo Jumbo, all we find out is that the book is destroyed. At first this seemed really odd and useless to me, but Reed obviously wouldn't add a detail like this without meaning.
One of the first reasons is basically the same reason for all of the odd things in the book. Reed is doing things in ways that are atypical to society and is doing it to show that following commo societal trends is useless and doesn't make sense. The other reason Reed may be doing this is to in a way undermine the Atonists by causing disruption and ruining their ordered society.
One final odd detail that I thought about in the novel was how Jes Grew disappeared. I thought it was weird how it disappeared without much of an explanation and then the novel ended soon afterwards. One idea that might make sense for this to happen is that is represent a way in which Jes Grew can't be controlled. One of Jes Grew's most important characteristics is that it's uncontrollable. If you don't know when it will come again or go away, that is another feature that makes it more unpredictable, unlike if it were around constantly.
I agree with all your observations. On top of what you mentioned, maybe Reed made the ending of the book unsatisfactory to keep readers thinking into what hidden meanings he might've included. His storytelling style is unique for sure!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Reed's style was hard to get used to at first. However, I liked it a lot and I could pick up on how much thought Reed put into the unusual structure of his novel in some parts. One part with unusual language that stood out to me was when the characters were retelling mythology, and slang was mixed with more formal older English. It was funny and I liked it, and it gave a break from more difficult to read text, and I liked how it connected the mythology to present day and suggested that the story echoed in the present characters too.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Mumbo Jumbo was hard to get used to for me as well. I would also add that Reed likes to intersperse historical images and diagrams in seemingly random places. Maybe Reed intentionally used typos to suggest that the Atonists have come in and messed it up before we could see the real truth. The book comes off absurd on a lot of places, but in doing so, Reed touches on real issues in our society today, conveying the absurdity of Western oppression. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI came to a lot of the same conclusions regarding the meaning behind the odd details. I think recognizing their intentional character has a lot to do with how we read the book and take in his style. I like the idea that he's disrupting the Atonists in defying convention, the blending of his own narrative and the real Ishmael Reed writing it is almost postmodern. Lots of great observations.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea that the disappearance of Jes Grew is Jes Grew in itself because of how unpredictable it is. But at the same time, it is all-encompassing to the point where people would be obsessing over it, trying to figure out how to predict it. That's also a component of Jes Grew, that it sticks in people's minds no matter what - even if it's not present.
ReplyDeleteJes Grew being incontrollable explaining the sudden disappearance is a really good point. Additionally, the idea that the sudden ending might be Reed's way of once again rebelling against society (like his two Chapter 52's) seems like it would be something that he would do. Personally, I think that the disappearance of Jes Grew happened to show that the moment it becomes accepted and normalized, it is no longer Jes Grew. The disappearance was just another way to show the attributes it had.
ReplyDeleteReed's writing was certainly hard to read at times, but to me, the various oddities (such as the two chapter 52s or the lack of quotes) weren't the cause of that. So, I'd agree that he did it to be different, but he chose to not make it particularly difficult by changing things that wouldn't affect the reader much. I also like the idea that he wanted to "disrupt the Atonists". I know we talk about meta-something in class often, and Reed publishing a book that would disrupt the Atonists in the book would be a good example of that.
ReplyDeleteReed's writing style is so weird, but for a purpose I think. I think that he's trying to be a Jes grew artist a bit, going against the common culture. Maybe he is trying to make a book that would offend the atonists. It is also possible he might just be messing around just for the sake of it. No matter the reason, it is a very weird read.
ReplyDeleteReed makes you think in a lot of ways. It seems like he's just desperately grabbing at our attention from every angle because he has something important to say. I see the chapter before the title page and go "why don't more authors do this? This is a pretty cool concept." We see the two chapter's with the same number or random pictures in the text and say "why is he doing this? Will anyone ever know?" It makes us think about what we know and take for granted, and I like your point about him being unorthodox as a statement against the Atonists, just disrupting the order they want.
ReplyDeleteI think that the reason Reed makes his book so unorthodox is honestly just so that someone will challenge it. Because if someone challenges it, then there's something so easy to respond with: why not? What makes something sensical? How would someone else's reasoning make more sense than this? If something is written on the page in this fictional universe that Reed has created, then you can't criticize it for not being realistic because who are we to say that this is abnormal? Anyways, I just saw his style as a sort of dare for people to challenge it and get mad. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Lukas, I completely relate to what you have pointed out about Mumbo Jumbo. This is possibly one of the most unorthodox novels I have read, but that is part of what made it so interesting. Reed redefines reality and I like how you pointed that out with the dream used as evidence. Great post
ReplyDeleteHeyo. Your analysis here where you compare the trends of this book to a standard mystery book are quite interesting, it's a new perspective I don't think I've seen. But I agree, the mystery parts of this book don't quite stand out as an actual mystery. I think if anything, the history bits (such as the stuff about the templar) are the "clues". Maybe the mystery isn't "what happened to the book" but morsoe "what is jes grew"
ReplyDelete