A Confederacy Of Dunces

Product Description

John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces is a bittersweet classic- although bitingly funny, it is bittersweet as it’s one of those novels that has always been in danger of being overshadowed by the events surrounding it’s publication, rather than the masterful text itself being celebrated first & foremost. Although believing his manuscript to be a masterpiece, the novel was never published & Toole sank into depression, eventually committing suicide in 1969. The work was published posthumously in 1980, after Toole’s mother found the manuscript. The text itself is truly wonderful, full of slapstick, satire & an unmistakable wit. The story centres on Ignatius J. Reilly: flatulent eloquent & pretty much unemployable… the ordinary folk of New Orleans seem to think he is unhinged as well. Ignatius ignores them as he heaves his vast bulk through the city’s fleshspots in a noble crusade against vice, modernity & ignorance. But ‘his momma’ has a nasty surprise in store for him. Ignatius must get a job. Undaunted, he uses his new-found employment to further his mission
- & now he has a pirate costume & a hot-dog cart to do it with. Largely biographical & painfully funny, A Confederacy of Dunces is a book that will stay with you forever.