In New Orleans today for a board meeting. That’s my man Ignatius J. Reilly, outside of the old D.H. Holmes. Lute strings and wine cakes for everybody!
Ignatius, Mon Amour
8 Responses to Ignatius, Mon Amour
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I have reread Confederacy of Dunces at least once a year and have done so for well over a decade. My last reading was last month.
Many of the characters ring true: Ignatius’ Mom is my Aunt Ann, and Ignatius himself is a dead ringer for my longtime friend T.O.
It is a tragedy that the author committed suicide, but a blessing that his mother persisted and Walker Percy took up the torch.
Confederacy of Dunces has my vote for a novel that will still be read and enjoyed 100 years from now.
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the unworthy craftsman says:
GMTA. I was just thinking yesterday about what I call the “Christian Nerd-o-Sphere” (ie the blogs of Vox Day and his ilk) and ol’ Ignatius came to mind as the poster boy for the whole scene.
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J.J. Gonzalez Gonzalez says:
I like those glasses. Are they by Corbusier or Philip Johnson? Either way they work. (Incidentally, I saw his glass house once, and I saw him in it! That’s what happens when you live in a glass house.)
I’m going to have to read that book. I like the title: A Confederacy of Dunces.
I’m putting it on my reading list right now.
[Note from Rod: You will love it! It's the Fifth Gospel! The specs are the "Le Corbusier" model by Lesca Lunetier. I know this because I just read the inside stem of my frames. Website here: http://lescalunetier.com/en/Lesca_Collections_Lesca.html# -- RD]
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Fred in Paris but working hard to escape says:
“A l’ombre de la visière verte, les yeux dédaigneux d’Ignatius J. Reilly dardaient leur regard bleu et jaune sur les gens qui attendaient comme lui sous la pendule du grand magasin D.H. Holmes, scrutant la foule à la recherche des signes de son mauvais goût vestimentaire.”
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Mr Tall says:
It appears Ignatius’s valve is vexing him yet again.
I take this as a sign it’s time for a re-reading of the 5th gospel.
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pjsmoov says:
I have a D.H. Holmes glass ashtray that I found years ago in my parent’s attic. It’ll never get used but I’ll never get rid of it. And it’s been at least a decade since I’ve last read about Ignatius. You’re making me want to revisit it soon. Wonderful characters.
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Anthony Prince says:
BBC Radio 4 today (available soon):
The Curse of the Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces is one of the great comic novels of the 20th century; unfortunately its author did not live to see his work acclaimed. Frustrated by the publishing world’s rebuffs, John Kennedy Toole committed suicide in 1969 unpublished, impoverished and unhinged. Twelve years later it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.The book, beloved by the people of New Orleans, whose people and their mores Toole depicted with forensic accuracy, has since become the book Hollywood has tried most to film and so far failed. The deaths of four leading actors, the murder one financier and even Hurricane Katrina have all intervened to prevent the cameras rolling.With yet another Hollywood ‘A- lister’ signed up to play the book’s monstrous slob of an anti-hero, Ignatius J Reilly, Matthew Wells tells the story of the incredible life of a work that has been surrounded by so much tragedy, tribulation and ultimately acclaim. He examines the appeal of a masterpiece that’s up to its 30th edition and can be read in 22 languages from Croatian to Catalan.
He looks terribly ill, or terribly cold and he really needs to do something about that hat.