Author: John Kennedy Toole Year: 1980 (though written some twenty years earlier)
A Confederacy of Dunces may be the funniest novel I’ve ever read. The only competition that I can think of (The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth, Cat’s Cradle by Vonnegut, or The Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon) pale in comparison. At the novel’s heart is the grossly overweight, highly opinionated and deliriously deluded Ignatius J. Reilly. You will not find a more unique and hilarious character in all of literature. Thoroughly sickened by the lack of medieval values in the post-Enlightenment world, Ignatius is determined to live out his life in the comforting cloister of his mother’s home, spending his days scribbling an elaborate protest against the modern world. That is, until a bizarre series of circumstances forces him out into the world where he must use his Masters-degree education to, gasp, finally get a job!
As the story progresses (and the plot becomes more and more wildly improbable), a number of gut-busting hilarious scenes ensue. Stand-outs for me were Ignatius’ “Crusade for Moorish Dignity” complete with an impromptu jazz dance among bewildered factory workers, his disgraceful job as a pirate hot dog vendor (complete with the tantalizing advertisement “Twelve (12) inches of Paradise”), and his short-lived obsession with a Boethius-reading pornographer. Among Ignatius’ more memorable quotes are lines like “Everyone has a valve!” and “Oh Fortuna, you degenerate wanton!”
What keeps Confederacy from being perfect is the elaborate cast of side characters, some wickedly funny, others dreadfully obnoxious, that interrupt the tale of Ignatius’ exile in the outside world. While characters like Patrolman Mancuso and Burma Jones are likable and funny, they are given a few too many pages and not quite enough to do. At times, during the middle section of the novel, it feels like the events aren’t really progressing anywhere. But be patient: the incredible payoff of the ending (which neatly ties up just about every random plot string from earlier chapters) is hilarious, heart-warming, and more than worth the journey.
As the story progresses (and the plot becomes more and more wildly improbable), a number of gut-busting hilarious scenes ensue. Stand-outs for me were Ignatius’ “Crusade for Moorish Dignity” complete with an impromptu jazz dance among bewildered factory workers, his disgraceful job as a pirate hot dog vendor (complete with the tantalizing advertisement “Twelve (12) inches of Paradise”), and his short-lived obsession with a Boethius-reading pornographer. Among Ignatius’ more memorable quotes are lines like “Everyone has a valve!” and “Oh Fortuna, you degenerate wanton!”
What keeps Confederacy from being perfect is the elaborate cast of side characters, some wickedly funny, others dreadfully obnoxious, that interrupt the tale of Ignatius’ exile in the outside world. While characters like Patrolman Mancuso and Burma Jones are likable and funny, they are given a few too many pages and not quite enough to do. At times, during the middle section of the novel, it feels like the events aren’t really progressing anywhere. But be patient: the incredible payoff of the ending (which neatly ties up just about every random plot string from earlier chapters) is hilarious, heart-warming, and more than worth the journey.
Value: Silver
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