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A review of A Confederacy of Dunces

by John Kennedy Toole

Obnoxious Ignatius terrorizes New Orleans' French Quarter to uproarious effect.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Santiago
About Jennifer Santiago

A Confederacy of Dunces Toole won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for "Dunces." After his suicide at age 31, his mother discovered the "Dunces" manuscript and worked tirelessly to have it published. Readers everywhere must thank the gods of the written word that her quest was successful. "Dunces" is among the funniest and most significant works of American literature ever written.

The hero of "Dunces," (and I use the term "hero" VERY loosely) is Ignatius Reilly, an obese, neurotic, fretful, unemployed 30-year old pig. Ignatius lives at home in New Orleans with his not-very-bright mother. He fills his days with taking long hot baths, writing exhortations against modern society in his secret treatise, pleasuring himself in his filthy room, guzzling Dr. Nut sodas by the case, and generally disturbing the peace anywhere and everywhere he goes. Never has a character been more thoroughly repulsive and utterly divine than Ignatius. To know Ignatius is to be revolted by the bits of food caught in his unkempt mustache, to shy away from his thunderous, booming voice, to turn your head from the gamy odor emanating from his ever-present hunting cap (highly unnecessary in a steamy Louisiana summer), but also to be drawn into his bizarre and hilarious world.

The trouble begins when Ignatius, waiting outside a Canal Street department store for his mother, is harassed by an NOPD officer. Narrowly avoiding arrest, Ignatius and Mrs. Reilly flee to Bourbon Street to drown their sorrows at the Night of Joy saloon. After alienating all the employees and fellow patrons of the seedy saloon, the Reillys make for home… but not before Mrs. Reilly, having had a few sips too many, rams their car into a building. The resulting damage creates a financial burden that Mrs. Reilly cannot handle on her own, and for the first time in his 30 years, Ignatius is obligated to get a job.

Ignatius first finds employment at the dilapidated Levy Pants factory, where he intimidates his supervisor, the timid Mr. Gonzalez, sweet-talks the ancient and senile office assistant, Miss Trixie, and eventually has to leave in disgrace after the revolt he's organized amongst the factory workers backfires. He then goes to work as a Lucky Dogs vendor, rolling an enormous hot-dog shaped cart around the French Quarter, ensnaring stray cats in the bun holder and drawing snickers with the pirate costume he dons to increase sales.

While Ignatius roams the Crescent City, appalling all who meet him, a whole host of secondary characters live out their twisted lives around him. There's Patrolman Mancuso, whose sergeant makes him dress in drag, lurk in bus station bathrooms, and be in continuous pursuit of "suspicious characters." There's Jones, trying to earn a living cleaning the Night of Joy saloon, but always butting heads with the Night of Joy's owner, Lana Lee, who peddles porn to children and abuses Darlene, her barmaid/aspiring stripper who's developed an ingenious new routine incorporating chains and a bird. There's Miss Trixie, who only wants her Easter ham and to be allowed to retire, and Mrs. Levy, co-owner of Levy Pants, who has read too many pop-psychology books and insists that if Miss Trixie retires, her spirit will be broken and she'll die. There's Ignatius' long-suffering mother and her perpetual list of ailments including "arthuritis." And finally, there's Myrna, Ignatius' estranged "minx" of an ex-girlfriend, living in New York, with whom Ignatius maintains an ongoing correspondence.

Just as important a character is the city of New Orleans itself, a city unlike any other. From the balmy weather to the stately old buildings to the assorted collection of misfits who wander the streets, New Orleans is the only possible backdrop for this tale. Toole's masterpiece epitomizes the soul of New Orleans as no other novel ever has.

I'm in the habit of making sarcastic and superior comments whenever I read another reviewer's work which reports, "It is impossible to do this book justice; you must read it for yourself, " but in this case, it is simply the truth. Toole is a singular genius and I would not profess to be able to capture the essence of his novel in a few hundred words. In my personal pantheon of the greatest books ever written, "A Confederacy of Dunces" reigns supreme.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: A Confederacy of Dunces

Copyright © by Jennifer Santiago, 2002

Reviewed by Jennifer Santiago:
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-- 30 Minute Meals - by Rachael Ray
-- Raising Blaze - by Debra Ginsberg
-- Backpack - by Emily Barr
-- You Are Not a Stranger Here - by Adam Haslett
-- Bookends - by Jane Green
-- A Confederacy of Dunces - by John Kennedy Toole
-- Ash Wednesday - by Ethan Hawke
-- All Saints' Day - by Brent Benoit
-- The Stepford Wives - by Ira Levin
-- The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating - by David M. Buss
-- Literary New Orleans - by Judy Long (Editor)
-- The Sopranos Family Cookbook - by Allen Rucker; Recipes by Michele Scicolone
-- Atonement - by Ian McEwan
-- The Crimson Petal and the White - by Michel Faber
-- Midnight Bayou - by Nora Roberts
-- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - by Ann Brashares
-- The Zygote Chronicles - by Suzanne Finnamore
-- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - by J.K. Rowling









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