An all time classic comic novel, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is also a New Orleans classic. I read this book before I ever imagined living in New Orleans, and it painted an amazingly vivid picture of a place I became determined to visit someday.
The novel concerns the comic exploits of Ignatius J. Reilly, indelible resident of Uptown New Orleans and sufferer of chronic 'valve' problems. Ignatius still lives with his mother although he is thirty and spends his days writing in his journal about the shortcomings of the rest of humanity. Ignatius is a man out of time; a lover of geometry and theology, a hater of popular culture. He attends movies in order to make fun of them. In other words, he wallows in the very material he finds so offensive. He is agoraphobic, a slob, and has delusions of grandeur.
The book is more of an extended character study of Ignatius and New Orleans than it is a traditional plot arc. We meet the denizens of New Orleans, Myrna (Reilly's sometime girlfriend), the long suffering mother, and a bevy of oddball characters. Having lived in New Orleans for over ten years, I have to say that its depictions are incredibly accurate in all their hilarity. Ignatius' attempts at gainful employment (as a hot dog vendor and in a pants factory amongst others) are hilarious enough to sustain the novel.
One of the amazing things about this novel is the route it took to publication. Toole was a young New Orleanian who committed suicide in 1969. His mother found the smeared carbon copied manuscript amongst his effects and in the later 1970s sought out noted author Walker Percy and badgered him into reading a novel by her dead son. Percy did so reluctantly, but found himself more and more entranced as he read on. Using his connections and influences, the book was finally published in 1980 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature the following year.
I have purchased and give this novel away at least a half dozen times. I have not read it for several years but plan to reread it for the 4th or 5th time this summer. Simply brilliant, and a top ten favorite for me.
Ignatius J. Reilly is such a part of New Orleans culture, you can visit his bronze image on Canal Street:
5 comments:
Awesome, I didn't know about the statue!
Like you, this is an old favorite of mine. I don't know if you've read Walker Percy, but I love him. The Moviegoer and The Second Coming are my favorites of his. Moviegoer is one I've been pulled back to over the years.
I really loved The Moviegoer but haven't read it in many years. My friend Elzy is a huge devotee of Love in the Ruins by Percy. Have you followed the history of the attempts to turn Dunces into a film? Belushi, Farley, Candy all tapped to play Ignatius and all dead early. I don't think any of them could have pulled off Ignatius' arrogance correctly though. The latest on tap was Will Ferrell, but Katrina messed that one up.
Who could play Ignatius?
Intriguing question. Of the ones you mentioned, I don't see any of them pulling it off.
Stephen Root! He could do it.
Great choice, although he may be a little long in the tooth by now.
True.
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