Ishmael Reed’s The Last Days of Louisiana Red is a fascinating satire on 1960s politics. Reed also revives the hero of Mumbo Jumbo, Papa LaBas, to act as detective in the strange and mysterious circumstances of the Yelling family in Berkeley, California. The short novel is often quite hilarious, with several scathing attacks on the city of Berkeley’s hypocritical liberalism and pretensions of academic merit, which is amusing when one remembers that Ishmael Reed was a lecturer at University of California-Berkeley for several decades. Furthermore, this novel shares many similar themes with Mumbo Jumbo, including conspiracies, elements of detective fiction, race, and Vodou, or specifically, New Orleans Vodou as represented by the historical Marie Laveau and Doctor John Montenet. Thus, real historical figures, obvious parodies of contemporary figures, and postmodern fiction are thrown together in this postmodern metatext. The Last Days of Louisiana Red (a reference to the Louisiana Red hot sauce) is also the first Reed novel with elements of misogyny, sometimes bordering on extreme anti-feminism, since the novel’s antagonist, modeled on Antigone, coincidentally, is portrayed as a man-hating selfish woman. Indeed, some interpret the figurehead feminist leader of the Moochers as Angela Davis.
To Reed, no matter how progressive the intentions of left-wing theory, if it remains naive about its relation to the hegemonic form of reason, it operates as yet another arm of Western domination. This essentially sums up Reed’s critique of black feminists, as represented by Minnie the Moocher, in this novel. An obvious reference to the illustrious jazz song by Cab Calloway in 1931, Minnie Yellings causes the downfall of others despite appearances of innocence. Upon becoming a full-fledged Moocher (The Moochers in the novel are the followers of Louisiana Red, the type of violent, evil Vodou practiced by Marie Laveau, the famous New Orleans “queen” of Vodou in the 19th century), Minnie (and other Moochers) live to take away from others without contributing or sharing anything of their own. Minnie talks about being oppressed by men (both black and white), but Papa LaBas, as the in the aforementioned quotation from the text demonstrates, says that black men have always contributed to their families by doing the most lowly, filthy jobs available to provide for their families since slavery days.
Then things heat up when Minnie mentions black men treating women as sex objects before abandoning them if they get pregnant, which leads to Papa LaBas claiming women’s “cunt power” and nature drives men away, which essentially sounds like misogyny. Indeed, an earlier scene in the novel is a brutal battle and eventually sex scene between Minnie’s brother, Street, and one of her female bodyguards, which does evince signs of sexualized violence. In Reed’s defense, Minnie (and other black feminists) attack on black males does often assume and neglect the suffering and contributions to black women and children men have made for centuries. Nonetheless, to portray black feminists and other left-wing ideologies and organizations of the 1960s as “whiners” who want to take and never contribute is a gross generalization of black feminism. Furthermore, to trace the origin of the Moochers back to a violent, evil type of Vodou practiced by a woman suggests that these leftist groups and ideologies prey violence, mistrust, despair while thriving on laziness, theft, and misplaced blame. Now the reader must know not to take this literally, but there is some legitimacy to Reed’s disillusionment with leftist, black groups in the 1970s. Of course this novel is also a NOVEL, which means it cannot and should not be interpreted literally.
The ‘gumbo,’ or positive Vodou practiced by Papa LaBas and Ed Yelling and his workers, unlike Louisiana Red, is used for healing. Indeed, using one of Doc John’s formulas, Ed Yelling invented a cure for cancer, and was on the way of devising a permanent cure for heroin addiction, which necessitated his death since the forces of Louisiana Red were cooperating with the Mafia. The power of Vodou for positive, restorative change in the world is Reed’s message for building human solidarity and love, not the hateful, misguided politics that replicates the Western tradition of oppression. Thus, Reed’s novel may use misogynist language and attack 1960s radicalism, but it offers a viable alternative open to everyone given the cultural hybridity of blacks due to the creolization of African slaves and centuries of cultural miscegenation. And like Mumbo Jumbo, vodun as the source for a black aesthetic and philosophy, remains a core theme in Ishmael Reed’s work.
However, I must point out that this novel is not as entertaining as Mumbo Jumbo. Although I loved the constant parodies of liberal hypocrisy and unrealistic perceptions of Berkeley, the characters in this novel were not as interesting or moving. Papa LaBas is the only character I could really connect to and appreciate, mainly due to his character in Mumbo Jumbo. Perhaps several of the characters, intended to be parodies of famous people in the 1960s and 1970s, are spoofs I failed to capture due to my own ignorance. On the other hand, the novel is loaded with popular culture references and historical references I could catch, such as Cab Calloway, Minnie the Moocher, feminism, Louisiana Red Hot sauce, and the stereotypes of lesbians and campus radicals. Furthermore, novel is meta because in its conclusion, it recognizes how it does not have an exciting ending, which reminds one of Mumbo Jumbo as a metatext.
In summation, The Last Days of Louisiana Red is worth picking up for it’s experimental framework and satiric eye on 1960s, Berkeley, California, and the necessity of choosing a political agenda and ideology based on the lived experiences of the people, by the people, to effect social change. The Moochers, rooted in the violent and destructive Marie Laveau, cannot produce a better society if their entire ideology is based on theft and a lack of will to contribute something besides merely demanding. Reed’s portrayal of feminism, though problematic, also applies because a feminist approach that assumes to equate maleness with evil without understanding greater societal problems cannot revolutionize the mind of men. As previously stated, in order to change the world, one must do it through the masses, according to their own ideology and beliefs, thereby avoiding impositions of doctrines disconnected from the daily lives of the people. Regardless of the attempts by Louisiana Red to eradicate the “Business” (vodou along the lines of Doc John’s medicinal practices), the Business will always survive and adapt because of its roots in compromise between personal desire and collective desire, or the ability to love oneself and others.
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