Imagine that a virus that causes people to be happy and dance spreads across the country, and suppose, in turn, that it is spreading through Black communities, causing social upheaval. That’s the premise of legendary Oakland author Ishmael Reed’s most celebrated (and comic) avant-garde novel, 1972’s Mumbo Jumbo. “Jes Grew was an anti-plague. Some plagues caused the body to waste away; Jes Grew enlivened the host.… Some plagues arise from decomposing animals, but Jes Grew is electric as life.” This fictional spirit is seeking its text: “For what good is a liturgy without a text?” Harlem Voodoo priest PaPa LaBas seeks this text, determined to keep the spirit flourishing in the face of the Wallflower Order, which purports to defend Western traditions by trying to destroy the text and groom a Talking Android that will be hosted by a Black body, to infiltrate Black communities and squash Jes Grew. Set in New York City, the satire collages together conspiracy theory, ragtime, white supremacy, radicalism, and Black nationalism. There’s nothing quite like this freewheeling masterpiece, which borrows what is exhilarating in jazz and plays it on the page.
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