I’ve wanted to read this book ever since high school friend Brandon Maughon, who now lives in New Orleans, told me a few months ago that it was one of his favorite books. I later ran across a copy of the book in Treasures on the Corner in Evergreen and snatched it up at a bargain price. The paperback edition I read was published in 1981 by Grove Press and contained 415 pages. It was a quick read.
“A Confederacy of Dunces” is set in 1960s New Orleans and gives us the story of 30-year-old Ignatius J. Reilly. While highly educated, he’s lazy and still lives with his longsuffering mother. The family runs into money troubles after Ignatius’ mother gets into a car accident, so he has to go out and get a job. The story proceeds through a number of hilarious episodes as Ignatius tries to get and keep a job. In more than a few spots, I laughed until I almost cried.
I found the publication history of this novel to be extremely interesting. The author killed himself at age 31 in 1969. His mother later ran across a carbon copy of the novel and unsuccessfully tried to have it published through traditional publishing houses. She didn’t have any luck, so she began pestering famous author Walker Percy, who was then a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans. Long story short, once Percy started reading the manuscript, he couldn’t put it down and LSU Press published the book in 1980, 11 years after Toole’s suicide. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. To this date, the original manuscript has never been found.
Not only did this book win a Pulitzer Prize, but it can also be found on many “best of” lists. “A Confederacy of Dunces” was No. 10 on ShortList.com’s list of “The 50 Coolest Books Ever.” The book was No. 42 on Esquire Magazine’s list of “75 Books Every Man Should Read.” It was No. 68 on The Art of Manliness’ list of “100 Must Read Books: The Man’s Essential Library.” The book was also included in the James Agee Film Project’s prestigious list of “125 Great Southern Books.”
For those of you out there waiting for a movie version of this novel, there is hope. For decades, a motion picture version of the novel has been discussed with the role of Ignatius to be filled by such greats as John Belushi, John Candy, Richard Farley, Will Ferrell, John Goodman and Harris Glenn Milstead. For a number of reasons, these versions never came to pass. The most recent rumors have the movie starring Zach Galifianakis as Ignatius. To me, that would be awesome because he’d be perfect for the role.
In the end, how many of you have read “A Confederacy of Dunces”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? Why? Let us know in the comments section below.
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