"A Confederacy of Dunces": by John Kennedy Toole

A clever comic novel with a tragic story behind it: John Kennedy Toole, the brilliant Louisiana-born author of A Confederacy of Dunces wrote the book in the early 1960s. But unable to find a publisher and in declining mental health, he took his own life. For decades his mother continued to approach writers and publishers with her son’s manuscript. The novel was finally published in 1980, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the following year.

ALMOST ARRESTED

The title is a quote by the 18th-century Irish author Jonathan Swift: “When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.” Set in New Orleans, Toole’s novel follows the life of the eccentric Ignatius J. Reilly, a medieval scholar and misfit in the modern world. Overweight, oddly dressed and , Ignatius riles the police as he waits for his mother outside a grocery store. She arrives just as Ignatius faces arrest:

“‘How old is he?’ the policeman asked Mrs. Reilly.

‘I am thirty,’ Ignatius said condescendingly.

‘You got a job?’

‘Ignatius hasta help me at home,’ Mrs. Reilly said [...] ‘I got terrible arthuritis.’

‘I dust a bit’, Ignatius told the policeman. ‘In addition, I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.’”

“—¿Qué edad tiene? —preguntó el policía a la señora Reily.

  —Treinta años —contestó Ignatius, condescendiente.

  —¿Tiene usted trabajo?

  —Ignatius tiene que ayudarme en casa —dijo la señora Reilly [...]—. Tengo una arturitis horrible.

  —Limpio un poco el polvo —explicó Ignatius al policía—. Además, estoy escribiendo una extensa denuncia contra nuestro siglo. Cuando mi cerebro se agota de sus tareas literarias, suelo hacer salsa de queso”.

FINDING WORK

Still living for free in the comfort of his mother’s home, Ignatius is spoilt, superior and overcritical of the “dunces” he meets everywhere. He spends his time eating, drinking andthinking, and writing letters to his activist girlfriend, Myrna Minkoff. When his mother crashes her car and faces a claim for damages, she tells Ignatius that he must go out and earn some money.

“‘I doubt very seriously whether anyone will hire me.’

‘What do you mean, babe? You a fine boy with a good education.’

‘Employers sense in me a denial of their values [...] They fear me. I suspect they can see that I am forced to function in a century which I loathe.’”

“—Dudo muy seriamente que haya alguien dispuesto a contratarme.

  —¿Pero qué dices, hijo mío? Tú, un chico tan bueno, con una educación tan excelente, con todos tus estudios.

  —Los patronos perciben que yo rechazo sus valores [...] Me tienen miedo. Sospecho que se dan cuenta de que me veo obligado a actuar en un siglo que aborrezco”.

getting work

Ignatius gets a job at a clothing factory, where his bizarre misadventures take a satirical swipe at the values and politics of the US. Ignatius writes a rude letter to an important client, and attempts to lead an uprising of Black employees aimed at improving everyone’s pay. Inevitably, he loses his job. 

“‘Ignatius! So you got yourself fired.’

‘Please, Mother, I am near breaking point’ [...]

‘A little job in a office and you can’t hold it down. With all your education’ [...]

‘My excellence confused them.’”

“—¡Ignatius! ¡Por fin lograste que te echaran!

  —Por favor, madre, que estoy al borde del derrumbe [...]

—Un trabajito de nada en una oficina y no eres capaz de conservarlo. Con todos tus estudios [...]

  —Mi magnificencia les turbaba”.

HOTDOGS

Ignatius’s defiant “excellence” lands him another job, selling hotdogs. It’s a task for which he proves unsuitable, consuming vast numbers of the product. Soon he is unemployed again. Inspired by Myrna’s activism, he decides to go into politics. However, when he makes the news headlines for all the wrong reasons (read the book to find out more), his mother decides to put him in a psychiatric hospital. 

“‘I’m gonna take care of you. I’m gonna fix you up.’ Yes, she would fix him up all right. A hose would be turned on him. Some cretin psychoanalyst would attempt to comprehend the singularity of his worldview. In frustration, the psychoanalyst would have him crammed into a cell three feet square. No. That was out of the question.”

“—Yo me ocuparé de ti.— Sí, ella arreglaría las cosas maravillosamente. Le enchufarían con una manguera. Un psicoanalista cretino intentaría captar la singularidad de su visión del mundo. Frustrado, el psicoanalista haría que le encerraran en una celda acolchada de dos metros por uno. No, eso era inconcebible”.

ESCAPE ROUTE

Can Myrna provide Ignatius with an escape route? The ending for Toole’s fast-moving farce is as unlikely as it is clever; no wonder the book, way ahead of its time, went on to become an international cult classic and still resonates with readers today.