"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign: that the dunces are all in confederacy against him" -- Jonathan Swift
Very fun read. Sort of a long book (by some standards), but it goes by quickly. Shifts rapidly between being very funny to very depressing. All in all more lighthearted than dark and cynical. Won the Pulitzer, but I suspect that may have something to do with the fact that the author killed himself, actually never having submitted his manuscript for publication. It was his mother who took that step, which intrigues me as to Toole's biography, seeing as how CoD is for a large part a preposterous, gargantuan satire of mother/son relationships.
It also intrigues me (as I am sure it has others) as to what Toole could have accomplished had he written more. His only other novel, Neon Bible, was penned when he was fifteen. Supposedly it's terrible, but also indicative of a lot of latent talent. I think I can say the same for Confederacy, and would go so far as to remark on the style itself as to say that, given only a little time, Toole could have blossomed into something on par with Vonnegut, maybe even transcended Vonnegut, if that could be.
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