A Confederate Outpost

How does one disparage a cult classic and winner of the Pulitzer Prize (1981)? I recognize the ingenuity and freshness of one Ignatius J. Reilly, the loathsome and quarrelsome protagonist of John Kennedy Toole's southern novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, but I may have read him too late.

To me, the novel was a labor to finish as I became distracted by other books, returning to "Confederacy" to read another 60 or 80 pages until I could tolerate it no more. There really is some genius to the madness inside, but the belching, bumbling story of ineptitude made me restless and discontent. I think perhaps the humor has been lost on me for the decades that have fallen since its creation (1960s) and publication (1980).

Better is the foreword to the book, provided by Walker Percy, who tells of Toole's mother and her labor of love to get the book into the hands of a publisher after her son's suicide in 1969. The opening chapter is a good preview of the ruckus that ensues throughout the story with Toole masterfully pulling together all the stray characters while recording the oddities of life in the Quarter during the era. Recommended for southern lit fans and those interested in the progression of literature.