A Confederacy of
Dunces
John Kennedy Toole
Read it in a rough
cover paperback that was a delight at 394 pages.
Now I that I have
completed my third Pulitzer of the year and taken some time to reflect upon its
contents I need to write a little something-something about it, but what…
I am at a loss,
which strangely enough must be how everyone else felt about trying to write a
description for this book too because most synopsis of the book I have found,
especially those written by publishers, are absent of any details at all. Most simply hint that it was written and
subsequently published posthumously, for the writer committed suicide when he
first was denied its publication. I
won't go into too much detail about Mr. Kennedy Toole's death but it was
certainly interesting.
The story itself
takes place sometime in the 1960's and follows the most loathsome creature,
Ignatius Reilley and his antics. One of
which antics, in which us the reader first glimpses Ignatius, starts a domino
effect that sweeps through the lives of his poor mother, a night club owner and
her staff, a police officer and his family, the people of Levy Pants, a hot dog
franchise owner, and on the list goes.
This is our Confederacy of Dunces.
I really don't know
how else to describe it without giving too much away. The story is a comedy and is most certainly
hilarious but it also shows the 'interconnected-ness' of it all. That each of our interactions are tied to the
people they affect and it's a tiny world.
I don't know if that is what Toole was attempting to do but he wrote a
pretty fantastic little gem. It's a
shame he wasn't able to get it published while he was alive. The writing is certainly top notch and is
written in a way that makes you want to keep reading. Some of my favorite bits during the course of
the book were Ignatius's communication with a college 'friend' and his constant
efforts to espouse his medieval philosophy to others.
We shall keep this
short and sweet.
Highly recommended.
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