A Confederacy of Dunces
The author's major work and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel; the best introduction to his comic and satirical style.
Author guide
John Kennedy Toole Books in Order
John Kennedy Toole (1937–1969) was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He wrote The Neon Bible at age sixteen and later wrote A Confederacy of Dunces while serving in Puerto Rico. Neither novel was published during his lifetime. A Confederacy of Dunces appeared in 1980 through the efforts of his mother, Thelma Toole, and writer Walker Percy, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. The Neon Bible was published posthumously in 1989. Toole also taught at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, Hunter College, and St. Mary's Dominican College.
satireblack comedytragicomedysouthern literaturesouthern gothic
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
The Neon Bible
A shorter early novel offering a darker, more Southern Gothic counterpart to A Confederacy of Dunces.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (2)
- A Confederacy of Dunces
novel · 1980
A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero is one Ignatius J. Reilly, "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly…
- The Neon Bible
novel · 1989
“A moving evocation of the small-town South in the mid-twentieth century” that “belongs on the shelf with the works of Flannery O’Connor, Carson McCullers, and Eudora Welty” (Orlando Sentinel). John Kennedy Toole—who won a posthumous…
Frequently asked questions about John Kennedy Toole
Who was John Kennedy Toole?
John Kennedy Toole was an American novelist born in New Orleans in 1937 who died in 1969. He is best known for the posthumously published A Confederacy of Dunces.
Sources: lsupress.org (opens in a new tab)library.loyno.edu (opens in a new tab)
What was John Kennedy Toole’s career before he became famous?
Toole taught at Hunter College, the University of Southwestern Louisiana, and Dominican College. While stationed in Puerto Rico with the U.S. Army, he taught English to recruits and wrote much of the first draft of A Confederacy of Dunces.
Who helped get A Confederacy of Dunces published?
After Toole’s death, his mother, Thelma Toole, spent years seeking publication for the manuscript. In 1976 she brought it to novelist Walker Percy, whose support helped lead to its 1980 publication by LSU Press.
Sources: library.loyno.edu (opens in a new tab)library2.loyno.edu (opens in a new tab)
Did John Kennedy Toole win a Pulitzer Prize?
Yes. A Confederacy of Dunces won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded posthumously after the novel’s publication.
Sources: pulitzer.org (opens in a new tab)library.loyno.edu (opens in a new tab)
Why is John Kennedy Toole still remembered?
Toole’s comic writing and the character Ignatius J. Reilly have attracted millions of readers, and A Confederacy of Dunces has appeared in many translations. The novel’s lasting popularity has made Toole an important part of New Orleans and American literary culture.
Sources: lsupress.org (opens in a new tab)lsupress.org (opens in a new tab)