Foyles

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A Confederacy of Dunces

Synopsis:

'When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him' - Jonathan Swift. A monument to sloth, rant and contempt, a behemoth of fat, flatulence and furious suspicion of anything modern - this is Ignatius J. Reilly of New Orleans, noble crusader against a world of dunces. In magnificent revolt against the twentieth century, Ignatius propels his monstrous bulk amongst the flesh-pots of a fallen city, documenting life on his Big Cief tablets as he goes - until his maroon-haired mother decrees that he must work.

Author Biography:

John Kennedy Toole was born in New Orleans in 1937 and died in 1969. He received a master's degree in English from Columbia University and taught at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He wrote A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES in the early sixties and tried unsuccessfully to get his novel published; depressed by his failure to do so he committed suicide. It is only through the tenacity of his mother, wholse faith in her son's work never wavered, that his book has found its deserved audience.

Additional Information:

Prizes: Winner of Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1981. Related subjects: Marginality, Social Fiction Modern fiction