John Kennedy Toole

Have you ever heard of John Henry Toole? You probably know of or have read his only book, A Confedracy of Dunces published 10 years after his death by suicide. A biography of Toole, Butterfly in Typrewiter  by Cory MacLaughlin, was sent to me for my birthday by my brother George who knew I would like to read the life story of the quirky misfit author who wrote a book whose main character is insane and who provokes some of the most hysterical events imaginable. The book is a also a portrait of New Orleans and its unusual characters.

Do you like hot dogs? This is just one of the awful jobs Ignatius Reilly does to try to earn money as his mother demands. Mostly, he eats all the hot dogs, but he also gets involved in a porn caper, and is charged with a $500,000 lawsuit from an office job he was fired from.

Now, what should you read first, Confederacy or MacLaughlin's bio (if you were so inclined)? I read the novel some 30 years ago, then read the bio, then re-read the novel. The book wasn't as funny as I'd remembered it but that could have been from all the details in MacLaughlin's book. They were interesting but I think diminished the character. Or maybe after 30 years I'm a different person with a different sense of humor. Toole's mother, who worked tirelessly to have her son's book published is a real character worth reading about, though.