This quirky, off-beat novel tells the misadventures of one Ignatius J. Reilly, a pompous, arrogant, narcissistic man who despises the modern world. The book gets its title from a quote by Irish writer Jonathon Swift- "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." (I've put key words from the quote in bold in an attempt to avoid confusion from those who are a bit slower on the uptake.)
The story opens with a lengthy description of Ignatius' peculiar manner of dressing. Just from the very first paragraph, it's easy to see that author John Kennedy Toole has a knack for vivid imagery and this trait remains constant throughout. A Confederacy of Dunces was published posthumously, 11 years after Toole's death by suicide. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981.
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