A Confederacy of Dunces
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| Author | John Kennedy Toole |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Tragicomedy |
| Publisher | Louisiana State University Press |
| Released | 1980 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-8071-0657-7 |
A Confederacy of Dunces is a novel written by John Kennedy Toole, published in 1980, 11 years after the author's suicide. The book was published through the efforts of the writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a revealing foreword) and Toole's mother, quickly becoming a cult classic. Toole won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. It is an important part of the 'modern canon' of Southern literature.
The title derives from the book's epigraph by Jonathan Swift: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." (Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting)
The story is set in the city of New Orleans in the early 1960s. The central character is Ignatius J. Reilly, an intelligent but slothful man still living with his mother in Uptown New Orleans, who, because of family circumstances, must set out to get a job for the first time in his life at age thirty. In his quest for employment he has various adventures with colorful French Quarter characters.
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[edit] Major characters
[edit] Ignatius J. Reilly
Ignatius is something of a modern Don Quixote — eccentric and creative, sometimes to the point of delusion.
He disdains modernity, particularly pop culture. The disdain becomes his obsession: he goes to movies in order to mock their inanity and express his outrage with the contemporary world's lack of "theology and geometry." He prefers the scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages, especially that of Boethius. However he is also seen as enjoying many modern comforts and conveniences, and is given to claiming that the rednecks of rural Louisiana hate all modern technology which they associate with progress.
Throughout the novel, Ignatius exhibits what would today be considered symptoms of depression. He operates under the mindset that he does not belong in the world and that his numerous failings are the work of some higher power. He continually refers to the goddess Fortuna as having spun him downwards on her wheel of luck. This type of thought may be akin to the psychological idea of "external locus of control" in which the subject believes that he is more or less powerless to alter the circumstances of his life through his own actions. Additionally, Ignatius shows the traits of an addictive personality in his inability to eat in moderation and regular bouts of chronic sexual self-fulfillment (he becomes sexually aroused by thoughts of his deceased dog and when he is lifted into the air by four Black factory workers). His mockery of obscene images is portrayed as a defensive posture to hide their titillating effect on him. In addition, he exhibits bizarre aversions, for example to Greyhound Scenicruiser buses, the bi-level coaches used by the company at the time for its longer routes. He speaks of the horror he feels even just knowing that they are hurtling about in the night.
[edit] Myrna Minkoff
Myrna "The Minx" is a Jewish beatnik from New York City whom Ignatius met while she was in college in New Orleans. Their political, social, religious, and personal orientations could hardly be more different, but Myrna and Ignatius have a fascination with each other. Repeated reference is made to the tag-team attack on the teachings of the professors Myrna and Ignatius engaged in during their college years. For most of the novel she is seen only in the regular correspondence which the two keep up since her return to New York, a correspondence heavily weighted with sexual analysis on the part of Myrna and contempt for her apparent sacrilegious activity by Ignatius. Officially, they both deplore everything the other stands for. Though probably neither of them would admit it, their correspondence indicates that, though separated by half a continent, many of their actions are taken with the intention of impressing the other.
[edit] Irene Reilly
Mrs. Reilly has been widowed for 21 years. Originally, she allows Ignatius his space and takes him where he needs to go, but throughout the course of the novel she learns to stand up for herself. She is fond of drinking cheap wine and is occasionally tipsy, although Ignatius describes her as a raving, abusive drunk. She falls for Claude, a fairly well-off man with a pension, and at the end of the novel she decides she will marry him, but first she agrees with Santa and attempts to send Ignatius to the mental hospital.
[edit] Other characters
- Santa Battaglia is Mrs. Reilly's new best friend and aunt of Officer Mancuso. She wants to get Ignatius out of the way so she can fix up his mother with a potential new husband.
- Claude Robichaux is said potential new husband :- an old man constantly on the lookout for any "Communiss" [sic] (Communists) that might infiltrate America, and who takes an interest in protecting Irene.
- Angelo Mancuso is an inept police officer, the nephew of Santa Battaglia. The sergeant in charge is angry with him, and he must somehow make a major bust to avoid being kicked off the force, being reduced to wearing ridiculous disguises, spending time in the bus station toilets in order to arrest "suspicious characters"
- Lana Lee runs a downscale French Quarter strip club, the "Night Of Joy." She employs Darlene and Jones, and runs an illegal pornographic photo ring on the side.
- George is Lana's high-school-aged partner in the pornography ring.
- Darlene is the "Night Of Joy's" goodhearted but none-too-bright stripper who has a pet cockatoo. It is Darlene's intention to better herself, moving up from getting the clients to buy watered down beer, to dancing and having an "exotic" routine involving her pet.
- Burma Jones is the porter/janitor for the "Night Of Joy" who resentfully holds on to his job only because the police will arrest him for vagrancy if he does not (an indignity not uncommon for African Americans in the U.S. South in the Jim Crow era).
- Mr. Clyde is the owner of Paradise Vendors, a frustrated old man tired of his Hot Dog Vendor Business
- Gus Levy runs Levy Pants, a family business in Bywater whose best days seem long behind it. He prefers to visit Levy Pants as little as possible as it reminds him of his father, from whom he inherited the business.
- Mrs. Levy is Gus Levy's wife. Having taken (and failed) a correspondence course in psychology, she attempts to apply psychoanalytic principles to her husband and Miss Trixie. She also specializes in making her husband's life miserable.
- Miss Trixie is an aged clerk at the Levy Pants office who suffers from senile dementia. Mrs. Levy thinks she's doing a good deed by keeping Miss Trixie employed, although Miss Trixie would rather retire.
- Mr. Gonzalez is the Levy Pants office manager.
- Dorian Greene is a flamboyant French Quarter homosexual who puts on elaborate parties for the counterculture. Ignatius tries to recruit him and his "sodomite friends" to infiltrate the army and thus "take down worldwide government."
[edit] Minor characters
- Frieda Club, Betty Bumper, and Liz Steele are a trio of aggressive lesbians who run afoul of Ignatius, and who figure aggressively in the climactic French Quarter brawl.
- Dr. Talc is a sub-mediocre college professor at Tulane University, that to his misfortune taught Myrna and Ignatius in the same class. Years later still feels the effects.
- Miss Annie the disgruntled neighbor of Irene and Ignatius Reilly, who has a severe addiction to headache medication due to the Reilly's constantly noisy domestic activities.
[edit] Notes
The book is famous for its rich depiction of New Orleans and the type of dialogue spoken there. Many locals and writers think that it is the best and most accurate depiction of the city in a work of fiction. Not all locals are enamored of it, however; some New Orleanians think it portrays the city and its inhabitants in an unfavorable light (in the same way that the novel Deliverance was received by Georgians)
The city described in the novel differs in some ways from the actual New Orleans. The first chapter mentions the sun setting over the Mississippi River at the foot of Canal Street. As this direction is to the south-east, this is clearly impossible in our world. Possibly this is a joke by Toole related to the fact that the area across the river is known as the "West Bank," despite the fact that because of the twists of the river it is actually to the south or east from parts of central New Orleans. Such details are not likely to be noticed by people who are not familiar with New Orleans.
A bronze statue of Ignatius J. Reilly can be found under the clock at the Chateau Sonesta Hotel in the 800 block of Canal Street, New Orleans, the former site of the D.H. Holmes Department Store. The statue mimics the opening scene: Ignatius waits for his mother under the D.H. Holmes clock, clutching a Werlein's shopping bag, dressed in a hunting cap, flannel shirt, baggy pants and scarf, 'studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste.' The statue is modeled on New Orleans actor John "Spud" McConnell, who portrayed Ignatius in a stage version of the novel.
John Kennedy Toole's only other novel is The Neon Bible, written when he was 16 and also published posthumously.
The structure of the book mirrors the structure of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy (Ignatius's favorite book; a copy of it is a central plot device) in several ways. The book is divided into chapters, each of which is divided into a varying number of subchapters. Key parts of some chapters are outside of the main narrative; in Consolation these take the form of a prosimeter, while in Confederacy they take the form of journal entries by Ignatius or letters between himself and Myrna.
People who have cited A Confederacy of Dunces as their favorite book of fiction include Tucker Max and Artie Lange (who cites it as the only book he's ever read).
Certain aspects of this novel mirror author John Kennedy Toole's real-life experiences. For instance, Ignatius' two main jobs through the course of the novel are pants factory worker and hot dog vendor. For a brief time after graduating from Tulane, author Toole worked at a pants factory. During free time, he spent days in New Orleans' French Quarter, where he helped a friend sell food from a stand. Toole also lived with his mother post-college degree, who was thought to be over-protective.
The book would never have been published if Toole's mother had not found the manuscript lying around the house and demanded Walker Percy read it. Percy, an author and college instructor at Loyola University New Orleans, reluctantly read through the manuscript, becoming more captivated with each page. Eventually, the book would go on to win the Pulitzer. Toole, who committed suicide in 1969 at age 32, did not live to receive the award. The original manuscript is currently at Tulane University in New Orleans.
[edit] Film adaptations
Given the book's cult status, there have been repeated attempts to turn the book into a film, although these efforts appeared to be as "cursed" as Toole's efforts to publish the book in the first place had been. At various times, John Belushi, John Candy and Chris Farley were touted for the lead, leading many to ascribe a curse to the role.
A version adapted by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, and slated to be directed by David Gordon Green, was scheduled for release in 2005. The film was to star Will Ferrell as Ignatius and Lily Tomlin as Ignatius's mother. A staged reading of the script took place at the 8th Nantucket Film Festival, read by Ferrell as Ignatius, Anne Meara as his mother, Paul Rudd as Officer Mancuso, Kristen Johnston as Lana Lee, Mos Def as Burma Jones, Rosie Perez as Darlene, Olympia Dukakis as Santa Battaglia and Miss Trixie, Natasha Lyonne as Myrna, Alan Cumming as Dorian Green, John Shea as Gonzales, Jesse Eisenberg as George, John Conlon as Robichaux & Mr. Clyde, Jace Alexander as Bartender Ben, Celia Weston as Miss Anne, Miss Inez & Mrs. Levy and Dan Hedaya as Mr. Levy. However, due to difficulties pertaining to the publisher's rights, the film never actually began production. [1]
British performer and writer Stephen Fry was at one point commissioned to adapt Toole's book for the screen. [2]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- GradeSaver study guide on A Confederacy of Dunces
- A review of the book written when the latest film adaptation was still scheduled to go ahead
| Preceded by: The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer |
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1981 |
Succeeded by: Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike |
