A Confederacy of Dunces (1 Viewer)

[ronan]

anyone else read it?

no other book makes me laugh as much.

in the last few years, i've honestly found most books i've picked up to be a chore to read.
maybe it's just me.
but why, oh why can't more books be like A Confederacy of Dunces?

can anyone recommend anything else in a similar vein?
(and not obvious ones by Joseph Heller or Flann O' Brien)
(and not anything that's serious or boring either. something *like* A Confederacy of Dunces)

Thank you very much

 

[kreature]

Reading it at the minute.
If i was Paul Ross i'd say
"It made me laugh out loud. The best film of the year"

 

[ronan]

Reading it at the minute.
If i was Paul Ross i'd say
"It made me laugh out loud. The best film of the year"

They actually are making it into a film, i hear.
Will Ferrell is going to be Ignatious, which should be interesting.
as much as i love him ("Will!! the Elf man!! you heard me call the Old Schooler's name!!"), i'm not 100% that he's right for the part.
He has the height and talent, but don't really got the girth.
put him in a fat suit i s'pose...

and Mos Def as Jones!

 

[billygannon]

I'm reading that at the moment! Absolutely hilarious stuff.

How about picking up Gargantua and Pantegruel by Rabelais?

 

[jane]

How about picking up Gargantua and Pantegruel by Rabelais?

Ignatius would be impressed, but he'd have something nasty to say about it anyway. It might not fit with his worldview.

I read this book when I was a teenager, and I loved it more than any other book I'd ever read, but I read it again about two years ago and loved it even more. I suppose now it's so ridiculously funny because although he still seems like an absurd character, anyone with any sort of weird academic leanings can -- whether we want to or not -- almost related to his obsessive behaviours.

Some years before Confederacy, he also wrote another book called The Neon Bible, though it isn't the kind of high (tragi-)comedy you might expect. It's quite good, but I almost felt guilty reading it. Confederacy was published posthumously, due to the efforts of his mother, but when the Neon Bible MS was found, I seem to remember reading somewhere that she didn't want it to be published at all, but, of course, it happened anyway.

For the writer of one of the funniest books ever written, Toole certainly met a tragic end: failure to get Confederacy published drove him to off himself. Not worth much to him that he would eventually be appreciated.

As for recommendations, read any Mark Twain? He's not as fast-paced, but totally deadpan and fucking great. Try The Innocents Abroad, a travel diary from a cruise he took to Europe. The absurd behaviour of his shipmates will look somewhat familiar. I also like to flip through Letters from the Earth. Some of the actual subject matter is far from our modern world, but the humour is timeless.

 

[kreature]

Ignatius would be impressed, but he'd have something nasty to say about it anyway. It might not fit with his worldview.

I read this book when I was a teenager, and I loved it more than any other book I'd ever read, but I read it again about two years ago and loved it even more. I suppose now it's so ridiculously funny because although he still seems like an absurd character, anyone with any sort of weird academic leanings can -- whether we want to or not -- almost related to his obsessive behaviours.

Some years before Confederacy, he also wrote another book called The Neon Bible, though it isn't the kind of high (tragi-)comedy you might expect. It's quite good, but I almost felt guilty reading it. Confederacy was published posthumously, due to the efforts of his mother, but when the Neon Bible MS was found, I seem to remember reading somewhere that she didn't want it to be published at all, but, of course, it happened anyway.

For the writer of one of the funniest books ever written, Toole certainly met a tragic end: failure to get Confederacy published drove him to off himself. Not worth much to him that he would eventually be appreciated.

As for recommendations, read any Mark Twain? He's not as fast-paced, but totally deadpan and fucking great. Try The Innocents Abroad, a travel diary from a cruise he took to Europe. The absurd behaviour of his shipmates will look somewhat familiar. I also like to flip through Letters from the Earth. Some of the actual subject matter is far from our modern world, but the humour is timeless.

Doesn't Ign. keep goin on about Mark Twain in Confederacy.
Ive decided this book works because its got this sort of narrative that is wicked for detail but it builds up into one fusion of all the detail. AN example would be whern Ign.
tries to get the workers to revolt against Gonzales and throughout this episode Ms. Trixie is calling him Gloria and his valve is goin mad.

Ah, ya had to be there.

 

[swingkid]

They actually are making it into a film, i hear.
Will Ferrell is going to be Ignatious, which should be interesting.
as much as i love him ("Will!! the Elf man!! you heard me call the Old Schooler's name!!"), i'm not 100% that he's right for the part.
He has the height and talent, but don't really got the girth.
put him in a fat suit i s'pose...

and Mos Def as Jones!

apparently John Waters almost got to direct it before, but was fired after the producer saw a photo of him, in his book 'Shock Value', visiting Manson Family member Charles ‘Tex’ Watson – who had killed one of his best friends!

 

[nlgbbbblth]

great book

read it once about 7 years ago

 

[jane]

I recently read somewhere that there has long been a suspicion that his mother, who had the book published after he died, actually wrote the book herself.

Anyone know anything about this?