A Confederacy of Dunces

by John Kennedy Toole · 1980

John Kennedy Toole’s cult classic follows the misadventures of Ignatius J. Reilly, a corpulent, self‑styled medievalist who still lives at home with his long‑suffering mother in 1960s New Orleans. When a mistaken arrest and a car crash force Ignatius out of his comfortable rut, he is thrust into the city’s chaotic underbelly in search of work. From a disastrous stint as a hot‑dog vendor to a scheming role at a shabby pants factory, his escapades collide with a parade of unforgettable characters—a flamboyant stripper and her cockatoo, a weary secretary desperate to retire, a gay bar owner, a sinister nightclub proprietor, and the radical Myrna Minkoff, whom Ignatius loves to hate. Through razor‑sharp satire and riotous dialogue, the novel paints a vivid portrait of a city teeming with gamblers, poets, and eccentrics, while Ignatius wages his grand, absurd crusade against modernity, vice, and the very notion of “dunces.”