Time Is a Pendulum
The very last lines of this book are “Time is a pendulum. Not a river. More akin to what goes around comes around.” The first thing that popped into my head when reading these lines was chapter 52... and chapter 52. I think it’s pretty obvious how these chapters relate to the last lines in the book. In the first, we are told about the questionably accurate mythology detailing the spread of dancing, the murder of Osiris, and Moses’ journey to find the book of Thoth. The spread of dancing during Osiris’ time seems to almost be the exact same, if not the same as Jes Grew. Set seems to be the basis for Hinckle von Hampton’s character, both displaying an unfavorable view towards the spread of culture. And, Osiris seems to represent the characters that are trying to help spread Jes Grew, such as Papa LaBas, except Papa LaBas doesn’t die like Osiris does. Like a pendulum, the spread of dancing that occurred thousands of years in the past and faded away, came back, then faded away yet again after a piece of the book of Thoth was burned.
And yet, near the end of the book on page 204, when Earline asks “Is this the end of Jes Grew?”, Papa LaBas replies “Jew Grew has no end and no beginning. It even precedes that little ball that exploded 1000000000s of years ago and led to what we are now. Jes Grew may even have caused the ball to explode. We will miss it for a while but it will come back, and when it returns we will see that it never left. You see, life will never end; there is really no end to life, if anything goes it will be death. Jes Grew is life. They comfortably share a single horse like 2 knights. They will try to depress Jes Grew but it will only spring back and prosper. We will make our own future Text. A future generation of young artists will accomplish this.” Reed is once again reinforcing the idea of the pendulum. Jes Grew started and died out thousands of years prior, and then came back and died out again once its Text was burned, but Reed suggests that such events will come around again. Without the Text, LaBas instead states that a future of young artists will create the Text, just as Osiris and Thoth had done thousands of years prior. If we think of the mythological story as as “beginning” of the two eras of Jes Grew based on the Book of Thoth, and the events of the current as the “end” after burning the Book of Thoth, it almost feels like the events of the current are more of an intermission to a new era of Jes Grew based on a new Text.
Very interesting interpretation! I like the idea that jes grew is always waning and waxing, waiting for a new artist to light something under their fire and bring back jes grew. I also like the metaphor that no matter how hard you swing jes grew away from you, it will always come back with that same speed into the mainstream. Good post!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that you mention the two chapters 52 in the context of time as pendulum--in that quasi-historical narrative itself, there are various "pendulum" elements in the chaps. 52 narrative itself. When Moses tosses some "dollars" to Jethro for "publishing" as he steals his music (which is associated with the "Black Mud," which evokes the Mississippi Delta and its blues tradition), the reader can't help but see him as an ancient manifestation of the quintessential 20th century dynamic of white artists stealing from black artists (and NOT paying royalties, in many cases). There are similar kinds of "deja-vu" throughout this mythic-historic narrative.
ReplyDeleteI love this post!! The concept that Jes Grew will never end is really interesting because the specific content matter that is a part of Jes Grew definitely has an expiration date. Musical examples like jazz and rap will eventually lose their "Jes Grew"-ness in that they lose their novelty. Yet, Jes Grew will always find a new trend to occupy that fits into its category.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your interpretation of the final lines of the book and the connection to chapters 52. While the idea of the pendulum made at least vague sense to me, I can really see it and understand it now. Jes Grew will continue to resurface, even after times where it's pushed down by Atonists and the like.
ReplyDeleteI agree that throughout the progression of the novel Jes Grew goes from "winning" to "losing" and back to "winning," but as Papa LaBas describes, it's a cycle that has been going on forever. And I see a bit of hypocrisy (or maybe optimism?) in how LaBas describes that ever-swinging pendulum and, at the same time, maintains hope that a future generation will create a text for Jes Grew.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really good analysis of how Reed characterizes history! In a sense, this pattern of ebb and flow is itself what defines Jes Grew. We see throughout LaBas's story how Jes Grew opposes stagnation and order, instead manifesting as this organic, constantly evolving energy. So to try to pin down and define Jes Grew (as represented in the book by uniting it with its text) would strip it of its essence, something that feels to me like a very postmodernist concept.
ReplyDeleteYeah, seeing history & Jes' Grew through the lens of a pendulum, it seems kind of inevitable that Jes' Grew would die out - and almost a good thing? Because it's disrupted the pendulum just a little bit, it's broken a part of the cycle. Jes' Grew has, for the past 2-3 cycles, been trying to seek the same text, the book of Thoth. It's been repeating the exact same series of events, and had the same goal. Now that the book has been destroyed, and a new text must be created, the possibility has been made for a new cycle to be set in place. Time will continue to operate like a pendulum, but this time, it could be a pendulum more favorable to Jes' Grew. The events of the current are an intermission during which Jes' Grew can reset, grow, and change into something different than the last couple cycles that has a better chance at succeeding and writing a new story.
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