No, I’m not talking about Congress but instead the hysterically funny novel by John Kennedy Toole. My advice is to buy the book and read it. It is satire and parody at its best with the newsworthy setting of New Orleans. I can’t begin to describe the story; but, I can guarantee you that by the time you are finished with ACOD, the name Ignatius J Reilly will be stamped indelibly in your conscience
But the real story isn’t about the comic brilliance of ACOD, but rather the tragic irony of the author’s life and death. Toole committed suicide in 1969 apparently distraught over not being able to get his masterpiece published.
However, Toole’s mother never gave up her son’s dream. Her persistence paid off when, at her urging, author Walker Percy read the manuscript and loved it. ACOD was published in 1980 with a forward by Percy:
But the real story isn’t about the comic brilliance of ACOD, but rather the tragic irony of the author’s life and death. Toole committed suicide in 1969 apparently distraught over not being able to get his masterpiece published.
However, Toole’s mother never gave up her son’s dream. Her persistence paid off when, at her urging, author Walker Percy read the manuscript and loved it. ACOD was published in 1980 with a forward by Percy:
It is a great pity that John Kennedy Toole is not alive and well and writing. But he is not, and there is nothing we can do about it but make sure that his gargantuan tumultuous human tragicomedy is at least made available to a world of readers.--From the Forward by Walker Percy
I was introduced to the novel that year by old pal from the steel mill days, Matt Myers. I read ACOD the first time in my Lily Street apartment. I have read it many times since. So, in honor of ‘Nawlins, or what’s left of it, I give you A Confederacy of Dunces.
I was introduced to the novel that year by old pal from the steel mill days, Matt Myers. I read ACOD the first time in my Lily Street apartment. I have read it many times since. So, in honor of ‘Nawlins, or what’s left of it, I give you A Confederacy of Dunces.
1 comment:
I read this book. Very funny but that's not why I stopped by. I stopped by because I chuckled while looking at profiles when I came to "making as big a carbon foot print as possible". Great blog BTW.
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