A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
79 Rating(s)
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
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A Confederacy of Dunces

Author: John Kennedy Toole, Walker Percy

Narrator: Barrett Whitener

Unabridged: 13 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/01/1997

Synopsis

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize“A masterwork . . . the novel astonishes with its inventiveness . . . it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue.”—The New York Times Book ReviewA green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs.So enters one of the most memorable characters in recent American fiction.The hero of John Kennedy Toole's incomparable, Pultizer Prize–winning comic classic is one Ignatius J. Reilly, an obese, self-absorbed, hapless Don Quixote of the French Quarter, whose half-hearted attempts at employment lead to a series of wacky adventures among the lower denizens of New Orleans. This book has become an American comic masterpiece.

About John Kennedy Toole

John Kennedy Toole (1937–1969), a native of New Orleans, graduated from Tulane University and received a master’s degree in English from Columbia University. He taught at Hunter College, the University of Southwestern Louisiana, and Dominican College in New Orleans. After his death, his book A Confederacy of Dunceswas awarded the Pulizer Prize in Fiction in 1981.

About Walker Percy

Walker Percy (1916–1990) was the author of nine books of fiction and nonfiction, including the award-winning The Moviegoer and the New York Times bestsellers The Thanatos Syndrome, Love in the Ruins, and The Second Coming . He is considered one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. He went to medical school, intending to be a psychiatrist, until he had a bout with tuberculosis. He married and converted to Catholicism. He became a writer, and his first novel, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award and has never been out of print.

About Barrett Whitener

Barrett Whitener has been narrating audiobooks since 1992. His recordings have won several awards, including the prestigious Audie Award and numerous Earphones Awards. AudioFile magazine has named him one of the Best Voices of the Century.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nathan on September 20, 2007

I know I'm out on my own on this one, but I detest this book. I really think it glorifies whining to an extent never before seen in the human condition. Everyone I know loves this book, and I know I am in a minority here. But Christ... That this book is so popular with people in my age bracket and n......more

Goodreads review by Jeffrey on October 13, 2019

Read for the group On the Southern Literary Trail Bounce BOUnce BOUNCE Oh man ughh ooohhhhh. BOUNCE! BOUNCE!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhh Oh thank goodness my pyloric valve finally opened. I didn't know I even had a pyloric valve until I met Ignatius J. Reilly. I had no idea that little valve could be so pesky. I can on......more

Goodreads review by Michael on February 01, 2021

This was my second read of this unbelievable masterpiece from John Kennedy Toole who committed suicide 21 years before this book was rediscovered and published by his mother (he was thus the only person to receive a posthumous Pulitzer in 1981). Ignatius P Reilly is so incredibly unforgettable. I la......more

Quotes

“An astonishingly good novel, radiant with intelligence and artful high comedy.”

“A corker, an epic comedy, a rumbling, roaring avalanche of a book.”

“The dialogue is superbly mad. You simply sweep along, unbelievably entranced.”

“A masterwork of comedy…The novel astonishes with its inventiveness, it lives in the play of its voices.”

“If a book’s price is measured against the laughs it provokes, A Confederacy of Dunces is the bargain of the year.”

“His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans’ lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures…What a delight, what a roaring, rollicking, footstomping wonder this book is! I laughed until my sides ached, and then I laughed on.”

“A Confederacy of Dunces has been reviewed almost everywhere, and every reviewer has loved it. For once, everyone is right.”

“A brilliant and evocative novel.”

“The episodes explode one after the other like fireworks on a story night. No doubt about it, this book is destined to become a classic.”

“A masterpiece of character comedy…The novel can hardly contain burstingly funny Ignatius—and the mix of high and low comedy is almost stroboscopic: brilliant, relentless, delicious, perhaps even classic.”

Awards

  • Pulitzer Prize
  • KLIATT Editor’s Choice Audiobook
  • SoundCommentary.com’s The Best of the Best
  • PEN/Faulkner Award
  • Booklist Editors’ Choice
  • Audible.com Bestseller
  • Audible Editors Top Pick
  • Amazon Editors' Pick
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