Literary Fiction · LightIgnatius J. Reilly and his misadventures in New Orleans
A Confederacy of Dunces
An outsized, unemployed scholar goes looking for work in early-1960s New Orleans
Ignatius J. Reilly is an overweight, educated and unemployed thirty-year-old who lives with his mother in New Orleans. His search for work leads him into a series of misadventures with a cast of colorful characters, including a janitor at the Night of Joy bar, a police officer and the owner of a pants factory.
More about this book
Who
Ignatius J. Reilly; his mother Irene; his New York correspondent Myrna Minkoff; and a cast of New Orleans characters.
World
New Orleans in the early 1960s, mainly Uptown and the French Quarter.
What makes it different
Toole died in 1969 at age 31. His mother found a smeared carbon copy of the manuscript, and the writer Walker Percy helped to get it published in 1980. It won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Feel
Broad and very funny, with a main character who is hard to forget.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
Toole died in 1969 at age 31. His mother, Thelma, found a smeared carbon copy of the manuscript and persuaded publishers to consider it. The writer Walker Percy wrote the foreword and helped get it published in 1980.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- A Confederacy of DuncesWikipedia