The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156086 Message #3678358
Posted By: Uncle_DaveO
19-Nov-14 - 10:49 AM
Thread Name: Books: We need a 'Books' prefix.
Subject: RE: Books: We need a 'Books' prefix.
In my (not so humble) opinion, the greatest American novel ever in print is A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole (not "O'Toole"). It stands out for the wonderful collection of well-drawn, believable, and hilarious characters, as well as the individualized display of the multitudinous and distinct accents native to New Orleans. It's the picaresque adventures of an eccentric (to say the least) fat slob genius named Ignatius J. Reilly, filled with a long list of those great characters I mentioned.
Now that it's come back to mind, I've just GOT to dig out my copy, to read again (for the fourth time or so) this fascinating Pulitzer-winning novel, the author's only novel.
It's his "only novel" because he committed suicide after repeated rejections. About eleven years later his mother stumbled upon the battered and smudged manuscript, read it, and embarked on a campaign to get it published. After getting it refused by publisher after publisher, she was able to enlist the initially reluctant help of an eminent literary scholar whose name I disremember just now, who finally approached the Louisiana State University Press, who "never published fiction", but who were impressed and broke their own "no fiction" rule because this was a book that just had, had, had to be published!
(You just might form the idea that I like this book.)
Dave Oesterreich