The Metanarrative of Mumbo Jumbo
In Mumbo Jumbo, it's no secret that Ishmael Reed goes absolutely ham with the ideas of postmodernism. The whole concept of the novel is an Afrocentric history that explains the jazz age and its popularity. On top of that, everything about Mumbo Jumbo rejects the typically accepted ideas of novels, history, and music: the metanarratives we base our lives around. The unusual formatting with chapter one coming before the title page, extremely varied chapter lengths, first person footnotes, and even two of the same number chapter is certainly jarring at first. At least for me, I thought, “what’s wrong with this Ishmael Reed guy, anyways?! Just write a normal novel!” but that’s kind of his point: There’s no one correct way to write a novel or understand history, and, from a postmodernist’s perspective, his narrative is just as valid as anyone else’s. The first metanarrative flipped on its head by Reed is religion. With approximately 62% of people in the US being some form of christian, ...