Reed's Version of the Osiris Myth

Reading the lengthly history in chapter 52 made me curious how much Reed stuck to the actual myth of Osiris.  While looking for this myth online, it quickly became apparent to me that it is nearly impossible to define what the "actual" myth was.  However, I did find a source that looks reliable.  This is an English translation from Plutarch's greek recording of the myth.  

The first thing I noticed when reading this translation was that instead of being called "Set" this character was called "Typhoon."  I think this is probably because Set is the god of storms and disorder among other things.  This makes it likely that the Greeks would have called him by their word for storms and disorder, and then when translating to English this would have been translated as "Typhoon." 

I found no mention of dancing throughout the myth on this site.  This is a vast difference from how Reed focuses on Osiris's dancing as his most important characteristic in Mumbo Jumbo.  It is therefore apparent that Reed is not using this story as it is generally accepted in ancient history.  There is also no mention of a text being recorded about these dances that were not in this version of the myth.  However, the Book of Thoth, as Reed calls the text of Jes Grew, is mentioned elsewhere in Egyptian history.  Instead of containing dance moves it is said to have 2 spells, one allowing the user to talk with animals and the other enabling the user to see the gods.  

Another discrepancy between Reed's version and the source I found is how Set/Typhoon kills Osiris.  In Mumbo Jumbo Set brings Osiris back to Egypt by spreading rumors and then challenging Osiris to "Preform the feat of the Germ" (165) and be planted in the Nile to spring forth again.  Osiris eventually agrees to this challenge and is sealed inside a coffer using nails and molten lead.  He does fine, laying under the waters in a "death-like slumber," but when Set and his followers open the coffer, they mutilate him to make it look like he was torn apart by fishes.

According to the source I found, Osiris returns from his travels without any influence from Typhoon, who pretends to be a loyal servant.  However, Set has formed a group of 72 conspirators and laid his plans, in secret obtaining exact measurements of Osiris's body which he uses to construct a perfectly fitting, decorated chest.  He then brings this chest to a feast and says that whoever fits into the chest most exactly will win it.  When Osiris tries it he fits perfectly of course, but Typhoon and his followers immediately close the chest and seal it with nails and molten lead.  They then put this chest into the nile and it is carried out to the sea.  Later, Osiris's dead body is found and Typhoon cuts it into 14 pieces and scatters them across Egypt.

I think that by comparing these two stories it is clear that Reed had read the version found in this source or a similar one.  He uses the same idea of a chest sealed by nails and molten lead which is thrown into the nile.  The question is then why did Reed change the details of this story.  It is clear why he made the changes he did regarding the dancing Osiris and the Book of Thoth, but why did he modify the way Osiris is murdered?

The Center of Art Detention

I think that Ishmael Reed renames the Metropolitan Museum of Art as the "Center of Art Detention" because he is making a statement about how western civilization both exploits non western cultures, but is also afraid of their influence.  The image Reed conjures of a museum being like a prison for the art, much of it from african, asian and south american cultures, but at the same time we know that people pay to see this art from other parts of the world.  In this way, western culture is making a profit  off of other cultures.  However, western civilization is also afraid of other cultures as can be seen in the description Reed gives of the Knights Templar.

[Hugues de Payens] is founding the "Knights Templar," the "poor fellows of Christ."  They are a scraggly bunch who look as if they haven't bathed in months.  The are a kind of Tac Squad for Western Civilization; a mighty highway patrol assigned to  protect the pilgrims en route to the Holy Land from attack by infidels and robbers. (56)

 The very fact that western civilization needs a "Tac Squad" as wide reaching and powerful as the Knights Templar supposedly are in this novel means that there is some serious threat to western civilization that needs to be defended against.  The quote above says that the threat is infidels and robbers, but I think what this really means is non-western civilization.  This is because the cultures that these infidels and robbers come from are non-western cultures, or at least in 1118 A.D. they were non-western.  With that in mind, this quote then reads: The Knights Templar are a kind of Tac Squad to defend Western Civilization against the rest of the cultures of the world.  The "Center of Art Detention" is one of the parts of this defense, containing and controlling the art taken from other cultures by western civilization.  The word "Detention" in Reed's name for this museum tells us that the control this museum has over the art takes a much more containment based form, rather than promoting the art of the non-western cultures represented in this museum.  Using this museum, Reed forms a kind of metaphor for how America treats the rest of the world's cultures in this time period, specifically African culture.  America takes in the valuable parts of the culture, but at the same time stops the culture from spreading and evolving.  Essentially, America ends up controlling the cultures of other people like the Metropolitan Museum controls art.