Mumbo Jumbo (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Ishmael Reed
- First Published: 1972
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Satire
- Time of Work: The 1920’s
- Setting: Harlem in New York City
- Genres: Long fiction, Satire, Mystery and detective literature
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Blacks, Supernatural, New York City, Religion, Harlem Renaissance, 1920’s, Spiritual life or spirituality, Cults, Metaphysics
- Locales: Harlem, NY, New Orleans, LA, Washington, D.C.
Characters Discussed
PaPa LaBas, a fifty-year-old black man who is the founder and head of the Mumbo Jumbo Kathedral. He is on a holy quest to find the sacred HooDoo (actually ancient Egyptian) text of the Jes Grew movement, now rumored to be located in New York City. Jes Grew celebrates the life of the body and the spirit in opposition to the life-denying, death-oriented, guilt-ridden, dominant Judeo-Christian culture. Jes Grew’s chief proponents are black, and its chief manifestation is dancing. Jes Grew is opposed by the atonists, whose enforcement branch is the Wallflower...
[The entire page is 1198 words long]
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