4/3/2005: Reads: A Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the unlikeliest heroes in modern fiction: he's obnoxious, obese, lazy, and utterly self-centered. He's plagued by flatulence, a bad pyloric valve, and a bad attitude. He's also hilarious, and in spite of all odds, immensely likeable.
Reilly's odd adventures take him from his smelly bedroom in his mom's house, where he writes volumes about medieval history, rants, and unpublished magazine articles on every subject; to the Night of Joy bar with its sleazy characters and strippers; to the side streets of New Orleans, where he pushes around a hot dog cart in a pirate suit and eats all of the inventory himself; to the Levy Pants factory which he practically destroys single-handedly.
We're treated to a series of colorful and eccentric characters throughout, including Reilly's demanding and ever-complaining mother; the decrepid, senile secretary Miss Trixie, who's tried to retire from the pants factory for years (unsuccessfully); various French Quarter flamboyant gays and militant lesbians; and the mysterious sex-crazed New York bohemian who obsesses Ignatius' thoughts and haunts his dreams, Miss Myrna Minkoff.
A Confederacy of Dunces was first published in 1980, eleven years after its author killed himself at age 31, and four years after his mother began pestering author and Loyola professor Walker Percy out of the blue to read her dead son's manuscript. Percy's forward to most editions of Dunces is delightful.
The novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1981. Toole's only other work is The Neon Bible, which he wrote at age 16. It was published in 1989.
For some time there's been talk of a movie adaptation of Dunces, supposedly to star Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, Lily Tomlin, Mos Def, and Olympia Dukakis, but it has yet to materialize.
