I love A Confederacy of Dunces, one of the funniest, most empathetic looks at misfits and outsiders ever written, that blessedly never dips into sentimentality. Ignatius P. Reilly is a vexing, troubling, brilliant character who represents the late author's alter ego, ultimately triumphant. The dialogue is brilliant and dead real - as only perhaps surreal farce can truly be - with the speech of black character Jones my personal favorite.
The famous story behind the story of author Toole's suicide has been subject to some revision of late:
- He was a literature professor at Hunter College in Manhattan and then a faculty member at the University of Southwestern Louisiana until 1961 when he was drafted. In the army, he taught English at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. Surprisingly, his position afforded him his own private quarters and plenty of time to write. A Confederacy of Dunces resulted. After his discharge, Ken returned to New Orleans and immediately submitted his manuscript to Simon & Schuster for publication. Soon after, the publishing house sent a letter which was so encouraging that publication seemed imminent. But, according to New Orleans writer Dalt Wonk, the letter was merely the first in a disappointing series. In his two-part work "John Kennedy Toole's Odyssey among the Dunces," Wonk described the events:
"Over the next few months, other letters arrived from Simon & Schuster. Thelma knew because she usually picked up the mail. But Ken did not show them to her. "He wanted to spare me,' she said later, 'for he knew they would grieve me.'
It was only after her son's death that Thelma was to read the correspondence.
Robert Gottlieb, an editor with the publishing house, wanted extensive revisions, she said.
Thelma would hear Ken typing by the hour in his room.
As the months passed, Thelma says, the requests for changes continued.
Ken became frantic. His opportunity was fading. Thelma says his letters to Gottlieb took on a beseeching tone.
Article comments
1 - Mark Morris
One of my all-time favorite books. Only hard to read because of the fate of the author.
2 - James Russell
Fantastic book. I dread the day, though, when someone dares write a sequel to it.
3 - Jamie McDonald
Truly a fantastic book. The main character is wonderful in his originality among modern protagonists, and Toole really nails (as far as this Yankee can tell) the Lousiana accent and speech pattern.
My only criticism is the rushed ending to the book, but its memories (Campaign for Moorish Dignity) more than make up for it.
4 - Al Barger
I'm thinking about starting a local Al Sharpton for President committee here in Indiana, just so I can officially call it the "Crusade for Moorish Dignity." A campaign banner made from a piss-stained bed sheet is JUST what Al Sharpton deserves.
Plus, it would really show that Minkoff mynx who's REALLY the bold political crusader.
5 - Eric Olsen
I figured there would be some Confederacy fans among us, but where is that movie? And who is Ignatius? We need a young Oliver Hardy-type figure.
6 - Dale Leopold
An amazing book--and given Ignatius' sentence for "American Bandstand" dancers--"they should all be gassed"--I can only imagine what he'd have to say about MTV.
I wandered over to the NY Times discussion. Not much in the way of illumination, just a lot of one-upsmanship sneering at Toole. Although there was one fellow who, in the midst of dissing COD, praised G.Gordon Liddy's "Will" and suggested it for a future book club discussion! The reaction was about what you'd expect.
7 - Brannon Costello
Okay, calling Walker Percy an "influential local novelist" is like calling Bob Dylan a "notable Minnesotan musician." Seriously, Percy is probably the best fiction writer and critical observer of the South after World War 2. His sprawling, picaresque, funny, moving novel The Last Gentleman (1966), about an expatriate Southerner's return to a South that he no longer recognizes as being "Southern" in the stereotypical sense, is a fine, fine work of art and a joy to read. Clearly, he hasn't achieved the level of recognition in American letters generally that Faulkner, Welty, and O'Connor have--largely because of the penchant of critics to pigeonhole him as a "Catholic novelist"--but his work is as important as it is pleasurable and profound.
8 - Eric Olsen
Brannon, I am convinced ab out Percy. I was only quoting there - that wasn't my opinion.
9 - Brannon Costello
Oh--I know. That wasn't directed at you, just a general pointing-out to whomever might read it.
10 - Ibrahim Patel
I am also a huge fan of this fenominal book. So much so in fact I have dedicated a page of my website to it in order to urge those who have not read it to delight in encountering a character of such staggering originality as one Ignatius J. Reily.
Any feedback on the site would be most welcome.
11 - dave
wow. what a sad (but instructive) story is the story of John Kennedy Toole's too short, too painful, life.
A Seabiscuit who was never unleashed.
12 - Eric Olsen
Interesting parallel Dave, of course Seabiscuit was a horse.
13 - Natalie Davis
One of my most favorite books! Must agree with your last sentence, Eric; what a sad story Ken Toole lived. But why not just call the character Jones by his name?
14 - Eric Olsen
I believe I identified Jones as "the black character" (this was written almost a year ago) for the benefit of those who had read the book but didn't remember the character's name, but who would certainly remember he was "the black character" due to his speech patterns, attitude, perspective, etc. Toole clearly wrote him as a "black character" in an almost Greek chorus kind of way - watching the proceedings and commenting upon them, and an indelible character he is.
15 - Natalie Davis
Just asking.
I didn't see him as such. I saw him as Jones.
16 - Eric Olsen
I get your point, and the uniqueness of individuals is always a valid concern, but I don't think our friend Jones is any less unique for being identifiably black. But group identification is such a habit with most of us - including me - that it is always worth pointing out and questioning.
17 - Ignatius J. Reilly
Being a gargantuan fan of A Confederacy of Dunces, and in possession of scant knowledge of the life of the writer, I am horrendously disappointed to read of "binge drinking, questions about his sexuality, and, as if those weren't enough, the early signs of what might have been schizophrenia." Why is it that readers are never simply satisfied to have read a great novel without the need to delve into the private life of the writer. Toole´s story is a tragic one in that he was denied the success that he clearly deserved and that ultimately he took his own life, but discussion of deeply personal issues seems almost voyeuristic and most definitely abhorrent. I have immense doubts as to what purpose such probing serves. Knowing Toole to be an obsessively private individual makes this effrontery all the more disrespectful and irrelevant; surely, his book deserves more attention.
As to the recent biography, I think I´ve made my opposition explicit enough. In my opinion, Hardy and Nevils, among others, are quite contemptible, parasitically living off their sordid, immaterial investigations into the life a truly accomplished writer. Such scrutiny, thankfully does not impact on the brilliance of Toole´s actual novel, thus anyone who hasn´t had that insurmountable pleasure as of yet, do so now, avoiding the Nevils/Hardy abomination of course.
18 - Eric Olsen
And here I thought you were fictional, Iggy. I understand your concern about besmirching the memory o a beloved writer with "invasive" biographical work, but as you say, it doesn't really have any impact on the book itself.
All public figures, especially dead ones, are open game for investigation and interpretation and there is nothing illegitimate about this, even if we don't like the information that is revealed.