Summary
A Confederacy of Dunces is a comic masterpiece that took an unconventional path to becoming an American literary classic. Written by John Kennedy Toole in the early 1960s, the novel was published posthumously in 1980, more than a decade after the author's death by suicide at age 31. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981 and has since sold more than 1.5 million copies, delighting readers with its vivid portrayal of 1960s New Orleans and its unforgettable protagonist. At the novel’s center is Ignatius J. Reilly, a corpulent, eccentric 30-year-old who lives with his mother and rails against modern society from the comfort of his bedroom. Forced to seek employment for the first time, Ignatius stumbles through a series of misadventures with a colorful cast of French Quarter characters. Toole's rich, comedic prose brings 1960s New Orleans to life in all its gritty, multifaceted glory.
Plot
A Confederacy of Dunces follows the misadventures of Ignatius J. Reilly, an eccentric and unemployed 30-year-old man who lives with his mother in New Orleans. The story begins when Ignatius, waiting for his mother outside a department store, attracts the attention of a patrolman due to his odd appearance. This encounter leads to a comical scene that sets the tone for the rest of the novel.
Forced to find work to help his mother pay for damages from a car accident, Ignatius reluctantly takes a job at Levy Pants. There, he causes chaos by arbitrarily discarding important files and sending an insulting letter to a customer. After being fired, he becomes a hot dog vendor, spending more time eating the merchandise than selling it. Throughout these escapades, Ignatius keeps up a regular correspondence with his former classmate Myrna Minkoff, trying to impress her with exaggerated accounts of his activities.
Ignatius's journey takes him through various colorful New Orleans locales, including the seedy Night of Joy bar. Here, he encounters a cast of quirky characters, including Burma Jones, a janitor forced to work for below minimum wage, and Darlene, an aspiring stripper with a trained cockatoo. Ignatius's misguided attempts at social activism, including an effort to organize the factory workers and a plan to bring about world peace through the gay community, invariably end in disaster.
The novel reaches its climax when Ignatius attends Darlene's debut performance at the Night of Joy. Chaos ensues when her cockatoo attacks Ignatius's pirate costume earring, causing a commotion that spills out onto the street. As Ignatius's antics finally become too much for his mother to bear, she decides to have him committed to a mental hospital. However, at the last moment, Myrna arrives from New York to “rescue” Ignatius, whisking him away just as the ambulance arrives at their home.
