A Confederacy Of Dunces [LARGE PRINT] (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head..." (more)
Key Phrases: bun compartment, nucular bum, exercising board, Miss Trixie, Levy Pants, Patrolman Mancuso (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Released by Louisiana State University Press in 1980, A Confederacy of Dunces is nothing short of a publishing phenomenon. Rejected by countless publishers and submitted by the authorÂ’s mother years after his suicide, the book won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Today, there are almost two million copies in print worldwide in eighteen languages. Now, for the first time, John Kennedy TooleÂ’s comic masterpiece is available in a large print edition.

Toole’s lunatic and sage novel introduces one of the most memorable characters in American literature, Ignatius Reilly, whom Walker Percy dubs "slob extraordinaire, a mad Oliver Hardy, a fat Don Quixote, a perverse Thomas Aquinas rolled into one." Set in New Orleans, A Confederacy of Dunces outswifts Swift, one of whose essays gives the book its title. As its characters burst into life, they leave the region and literature forever changed by their presence—Ignatius and his mother; Miss Trixie, the octogenarian assistant accountant at Levi Pants; inept, wan Patrolman Mancuso; Darlene, the Bourbon Street stripper with a penchant for poultry; Jones the jivecat in spaceage dark glasses.

Included here is the introduction that writer and New Orleans resident Andrei Codrescu composed for the bookÂ’s twentieth anniversary. Set in oversized type for ease in reading, the large print edition will gratify both first-timers seeking to discover this modern-day classic and longtime afficionados wishing to reread a favorite novel.

About the Author

A native of New Orleans, John Kennedy Toole (1937–1969) was educated at Tulane University and Columbia University, and taught at Hunter College, the University of Southwestern Louisiana, and Dominican College. Much of the first draft of Confederacy was written while he was in the army, stationed in Puerto Rico teaching English to new recruits.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (September 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807130087
• ISBN-13: 978-0807130087
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,050 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Literary Comedy, June 9, 2009

By	I'll Read Anything (Scottsdale, AZ) - See all my reviews

I first heard of this book a few months ago when it was mentioned by my writing teacher. He told us the story of how this book came to be published.

A Confederacy of Dunces was written by John Kennedy Toole. After spending years attempting to get the manuscript published with no success, Toole became depressed and committed suicide in 1969. His mother found a copy of the manuscript after her son's death and took it to author Walter Percy who was teaching at Loyola University in New Orleans at the time. Percy liked the book and got it published in 1980. In 1981 A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The plot is very complicated and involves many inept characters including a lounge owner, a policeman, an office manager and his assitant, a neighbor, a factory owner and his wife, and the main character, Ignatius Reilly, an obese, unemployed thirty-year-old who lives with his widowed mother.

The story revolves around Reilly, his antics and histrionics, and his interactions with the other characters in the book. Due to a car accident Mrs. Reilly owes a man a great sum of money that she cannot pay. She insists that her son get a job to help pay her debt, which he does. He becomes a filing clerk at a rundown company called Levy Pants where he works with two incompetent coworkers. He spends his time doing a bunch of things (except for actually filing) including attempting to over throw the company's management by leading a coup of the factory workers. The coup fails and Reilly is fired. He subsequently gets a job as a hot dog vendor in the French Quarter, but soon gets fired from that job as well.

Meanwhile a subplot about some nefarious activity taking place at a cocktail lounge develops. Eventually Reilly's path crosses with the people in the cocktail lounge and Reilly, despite being a pompous buffoon, helps the police break up a pornography ring.

Ignatius Reilly is selfish, arrogant, witty, funny, lazy, delusional, annoying, rude, and erudite all at the same time. The rest of the characters are just as dysfunctional. And it is this dysfunction that makes for the great comedy in this book.

Never before have I read a book that made me laugh out loud as much as this one. The book contains both dialog that is cleverly humorous and subtle physicial comedy. My writing teacher once said "People don't read books, they see books". In other words as we read we "see" the action taking place. What I saw when I read this book was along the lines of the Marx Brothers meet Mae West.

Describing this book adequately is difficult. You'll have to read it for yourself, something I highly recommend. Despite being published almost 30 years ago there is always a waiting list for it at my local library - testimony to its appeal and popularity.

[...]

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book!, July 10, 2009

By	avid reader "Amy" (Northport, NY) - See all my reviews

This is the funniest, most original, most outrageous book i have ever read. I laughed out loud until i cried. This book is brilliant!!!!!!!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, March 16, 2009

By	Frances "Fran" (Virgin Islands) - See all my reviews

This is an incredibly funny and intelligent book. I initially borrowed it from the library, but ended up buying copies for friends. Next, I will have to get one for myself. It is a read you will want to read again and again. A Pulitzer Prize winner.