Ishmael Reed uses many
footnotes and other sources within Mumbo
Jumbo to corroborate what he says.
In the first chapter and title page alone, he uses four quotes, a photo,
and a dictionary definition. He uses a newspaper article in chapter 8 to tell
the story of the times when Harding was elected: “A Period of Frazzled Nerves,
Caused by the End of War-time Strain” (Reed 21). In class we discovered the
bibliography at the end of the novel, which I thought was interesting in that
it proved that Reed had done extensive and accurate historical research in
order to write the novel.
As well as the newspaper
article on page 21, there was a footnote citing Irene Castle for the sentence “It
would take a few months before a woman would be arrested for walking down a New
Jersey street singing ‘Everybody’s doing it now’” (Reed 21). Irene Castle was
also mentioned more extensively on pages 46 and 47. Castle endorses one of the
techniques PaPa LaBas uses, and for that “the vicious campaign aimed at him had
abated. The harassment from the bulls, the constant inspections of his Mumbo
Jumbo Kathedral by the Fire Department, the reviews of his tax records” (Reed, 46-47).
Because Castle seemed to have such influence, I thought that it was worth
looking her up to see if Reed had warped her history or perspective as Doctorow did with some of his characters. What I
found was that she was an actual person and that her views pretty much line up
what is in the novel. She and her husband were dancers during the 1900s. Reed
writes that Castle “taught…to do a diluted version of Jes Grew,” which would
align with what I found, that she was more accepting of new dance movements but
primarily taught more traditional dances to clients (47). This would explain
her endorsement of PaPa LaBas’ techniques:
Nowadays we dance morning, noon, and
night. What is more, we are unconsciously, while we dance, warring not only
against unnatural lines of figures and gowns, but we are warring against fat,
against sickness, and against nervous troubles. For we are exercising. We are
making ourselves lithe and slim and healthy, and these are things that all
reformers in the world could not do for us (Reed 46).
This endorsement is cited
with a footnote leading me to the bibliography, where I found a citation for Castles in the Air, a book Irene
actually wrote. After a deeper search, I found an online copy of Castles in the Air which was consistent
with Reed’s bibliographic entry (with the publisher, publishing date, etc.).
There was a “search in the text” option, which I used to look for the quote so
I could see it in its original context. However, it appears that the quotation
that Reed uses is not actually in the book?
At this point I am unsure what to think. For one thing, it
could be a real quote from Castle and I am just not finding it (let me know if
you find it!). On the other hand, Reed does not use quotation marks to denote
it, perhaps meaning that it is not a quote at all (maybe a summary?). However, I find this
unlikely because Reed does not use quotation marks throughout the book. If this
is simply Reed making up an endorsement, I guess that’s fine because it’s in the
context of his book. Using these apparent sources is a really good technique to
blend history with the fiction. It gives the book a feeling of authenticity. But
it leaves me wondering, just how much can we trust of Reed’s sources? And how
will he use these sources later in the novel to authenticate what happens?
Some links about Irene
Castle (fun fact: she was born in New Rochelle NY!):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_and_Irene_Castle
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vernon-and-Irene-Castle
Here is the source where
I found the copy of Castles in the Air (let me know if you find the quote!):
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001374260
