What is Jes Grew?
Throughout the novel, I found myself asking the same question over and over: "What is Jes Grew?" At first, I interpreted Jes Grew as a way of life inspired by the long-lost text that everyone is searching for. People suddenly began to groove to the jazz music that swept New York City and New Orleans. I thought these people started to just groove uncontrollably and that this new wave called Jes Grew was the mentality of "forget everything and just groove to the music." I later discovered that Jes Grew symbolizes grooving to the upbeat tempo of jazz but also describes this movement.
In 1974, Ishmael Reed spoke at the Brockport Writers Forum in Brockport, New York. He discussed some of his works, including Mumbo Jumbo. During the discussion, Reed alluded to the meaning behind Jes Grew. He made a connection to the ragtime era of American history, which I found especially interesting. Reed speaks of ragtime as something that had no fabricated origin; it simply "just grew." He applied this same reasoning to including Jes Grew in Mumbo Jumbo. Jes Grew was something that Reed considers to be a "spontaneous rising," something that came out of nowhere.
As I read the novel, the correlation between Abdul's text and Jes Grew became increasingly interesting. I eventually came to find out that Reed also made a connection between the two. When the text is burnt, the Jes Grew "epidemic" begins to dissipate. Reed later explained that he believed words were once considered to be holy in African American culture. These words were the foundation of ancient art forms, and without the words, the art dies. Reed also said that the art forms, in this case, dancing, follow the words that accompany them as they are one with the other. This is what led the Jes Grew epidemic to spread from New Orleans to New York. Since the text was in New York before it was burned, the dancing epidemic made its way to the city, sweeping the nation and infecting people along the way. The epidemic only ended because its source, the text, was destroyed, tearing down the foundation of the dance crisis.
I was also very confused about Jes Grew while reading Mumbo Jumbo. The one part that I really didn't get was how exactly the Text influenced the physical spread of Jes Grew. Scientifically, this doesn't really make sense; it's not as if the multi-thousand-year-old book exudes some infectious virus that causes Jes Grew. On a loosely connected thought, I also had the idea that such a physical, written artifact conveying African art is significant in the sense that for most of black history in America, there haven't been many primary records of African American life and culture, with such writing often hindered by slavery and other systemic measures of African American oppression. There may have been multiple unrecorded cultural movements and artistic developments in the African American population during this time period, but without a written record of these events, it's difficult for them to serve as anchors for contemporary African American culture. The Text therefore serves as one of the few standing physical embodiments of black culture that support and validate the contemporary Jes Grew movement, and perhaps because of this, the destruction of it led to the (temporary) dissipation of the anti-plague.
ReplyDeleteI first imagined Jes Grew as a reincarnation of a medieval dancing plague (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania), but as we read, the formless interpretation began to make more sense. Just like a virus, you can't sense it but it is still able to infect you and affect your body. My personal interpretation of the text was that, without a unifying goal that this disease was working towards, it would eventually keep mutating until it is unrecognizable, which is why when the text disappears, Jes Grew goes with it.
ReplyDeleteI can relate with a lot of this post, as this was a source of confusion for me too. I especially appreciated how you dug into Reed's own commentary to shed light on the symbolism. Building on your insights, I think it's also interesting to consider Jes Grew as a metaphor for the resilience and indomitable spirit of African American culture. Despite attempts by the dominant society to suppress or eradicate it (symbolized by the burning of the sacred text), Jes Grew keeps rising up again - a display of the power of art, music and dance in the face of oppression.
ReplyDeleteI agree on your analysis of Jes Grew. It's interesting how Reed can weave together these historical moments from different eras that it takes place in. I'm interested in the future, since according to Reed, the words have been burnt. What else will take the text's place? I like your connection between the words and dancing. Maybe the next evolution will use dancing as its basis. Good post.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading Mumbo Jumbo I always interpreted Jes Grew as a metaphor for black culture in America and how it seems to pop up, become really popular, and eventually face backlash from white society for it potential dangers. Something that really confused me while reading Mumbo Jumbo was actually the significance of the text, I didnt really understand what made the text give Jes Grew power and why it couldn't survive without it but your reasoning makes a lot of sense, that the text represents the foundation of Jes Grew and without its, like, 'origins' it can't survive. Good post.
ReplyDeleteAnd this "original flare-up" of Jes Grew in the form of ragtime IS included in the novel: the italicized "historical" passage near the start (which later seems clearly to be in LaBas's voice) locates an original flare-up of Jes Grew activity in Congo Square in the 1890s, which leads to the invention of ragtime--but ragtime never rises to the level of cultural influence and potentially revolution that the jazz era did, in part because (in Reed's telling) in the 1920s Jes Grew came closer to "finding its text" in the form of the Harlem Renaissance. The idea is that JG can *really* take hold when it transcends dance and music and also entails writing, philosophy, aesthetics, and history--all of which are "textual" products of the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDeleteI do think that the concept of Jes Grew was confusing, especially at first. It was first described as some sort of wave of involuntary dancing, then an "anti-plague"? Throughout the novel it was described very vaguely. For me, I feel like Jes Grew kind of encapsulates Afro-American culture as a whole- it includes all sorts of music, dance, language, religion, etc. I also think that it is possible for different people to come up with different interpretations of what Jes Grew could represent.
ReplyDeleteI read Jes Grew as more of an idea than a physical plague, an idea that represents culture that wasn't intentional or calculated, but rather that "just grew". It can include anything, since there isn't any fixed ruleset to it, and it will continue to manifest itself in pop culture as long as there are artists who create for the sake of creation and to explore their culture. Even now, Jes Grew is alive and well, making its presence known through the rhythm and beats of modern Hip-Hop.
ReplyDeleteI think it's cool that you found one of Reed's interviews, where he describes his inspiration for the Jes Grew epidemic in Mumbo Jumbo. Jes Grew, like Ragtime, being a spontaneous sort of movement makes a lot of sense, especially when put into a broader context; I believe Jes Grew can be interpreted as many different aspects of life (i.e. music, art, literature, culture, etc.) that come naturally. Some alternative force needs to stop its spread, because it will always arise again, seemingly out of nowhere, when left uncontained.
ReplyDeleteJes Grew was, to me, more of a abstract type label on a whole culture. It is really interesting how you pointed out the burning and text beginning Jes Grew's downfall. This also symbolizes how the foundations of the culture were being stripped away. But as Jes Grew sprouted from nowhere, it can again in new forms. Which if we examine todays society we definitely can see parallels of Ishmael Reeds fictional Jes Grew and todays cultural dynamics.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading Mumbo Jumbo, I ended up asking myself that same question. What is Jes Grew? Does one just start dancing one day and never stop? Can someone recover from it? The burning of the text also interested me. Jes Grew started to die out after that, but will it ever fully die out? Great post!
ReplyDeleteLike William, I thought Jes Grew made people dance till they dropped, willingly or not. I appreciate how you brought some other references to better inform us about Reed's thinking. Reading about his view on the importance of words in Afriacn American culture can definately be seen in Mumbo Jumbo with Jes Grew seeking its text. However, even though the text was burned and Jes Grew subsequently died out, Papa LaBas said that it would return. I wonder how Reed thinks culture could continue to grow without being recorded.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of destroying text making chain reactions in culture really fascinates me. With just a piece of paper and pen, a person can spread an idea and change millions of peoples' perceptions, actions, and future. And, why do we feel spirited, energetic and boundlessly alive when we read certain poems or books but we don't with others? Great blog, I love the ideas that you have
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