A Confederacy of Dunces (Penguin Modern Classics)

Book review by Tracey
This work of fiction was originally published in 1980. According to the forward, it was brought to print by a professor who had read the work at the insistence of the mother of the author, who had committed suicide. The professor was reluctant to read the work, but once he had, decided that the story was great--he had to get it published.

I found the book to be full of a zany collection of characters, most of whom I could identify somewhat in my particular circle of acquaintances. The main character, Ignatius Reilly, is an unkempt, gross, egomaniac who lives totally outside the realms of reality. Interestingly enough, I have actually worked with a couple of these people! Preposterous as that may sound, I realized that I recognized this totally over-the-top character! The time and place are different of course, but the personality is the same. Ignatius wanders around through the story doing as little as possible and criticizing everyone else for doing the same thing. His mother wants him to get a job to help out with the bills, so he very reluctantly breezes through a series of jobs creating havoc wherever he goes. As his mother becomes more belligerent and forceful, her new friends convince her that she must put her son in an asylum. She almost gets him there, but what happens and how he gets out of it I’ll leave to the next reader.

Tracey.