A Confederacy of Dunces

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980) I had been meaning to read this book forever and I was sure I had a copy, but I couldn’t find it, so I resorted to an audio book, which was highly entertaining—it was like a whole season of the best sitcom ever—just relentless, outrageous, farcical episodes with a lot of great characters—a lot of repetition, sure, but plenty of surprises along the way. It feels both dated and all too current—I guess buffoonery and aggressive ignorance is timeless. Also, it’s set in and around New Orleans, the most fascinating town in the US. The narrator is Barrett Whitener, and he really goes for it, voicing the characters—for all that I’m missing by not reading it on the page (which I still might do, later, in my slow fashion), I’m gaining something from this performance. Ignatius Reilly is a great protagonist—one you might know of, never having read this book, as he’s exceeded it—he lives with his mother and is a pompous know-it-all, disdains popular culture—so whenever his enthusiasm alights on something, it’s a pleasure. You do weary of hearing about his “valve”—but his attempt to find work, first at a pants factory, and then as a hotdog vendor, is subject matter dear to me. The cop, Mancuso, is really good as well, could have his own book. My favorite is Burma Jones, who probably sees the world most clearly of anyone, though is a buffoon in his own way—but he’s irrepressible, and everything he says is hilarious. I guess it’s a well-known story that JKT had no success getting this book accepted, and died by suicide, age 31, before it was published, which is very sad. It’s kind of amazing the manuscript didn’t end up in a dumpster, like everything else is fated to.

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