Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
A Confederacy of Dunces: Introduction
A Confederacy of Dunces: Plot Summary
A Confederacy of Dunces: Detailed Summary & Analysis
A Confederacy of Dunces: Themes
A Confederacy of Dunces: Quotes
A Confederacy of Dunces: Characters
A Confederacy of Dunces: Symbols
A Confederacy of Dunces: Theme Wheel
Brief Biography of John Kennedy Toole
Historical Context of A Confederacy of Dunces
Other Books Related to A Confederacy of Dunces
- Full Title: A Confederacy of Dunces
- When Written: 1963-1964
- Where Written: Puerto Rico and New Orleans
- When Published: 1980
- Literary Period: Postmodern
- Genre: Picaresque
- Setting: New Orleans, Louisiana
- Climax: Ignatius J. Reilly, a medieval scholar, finds himself in the Night of Joy strip bar on his hunt for a mystery woman who has the same taste in books as him. His presence there leads to a commotion which exposes the corrupt nightclub owner, Lana Lee, who has been distributing pornography.
- Antagonist: Lana Lee
- Point of View: Third Person
Extra Credit for A Confederacy of Dunces
Based on Byrne. Toole partially based the character of Ignatius J. Reilly on Bob Byrne, a college professor whom he befriended while teaching at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Bob Byrne was a notoriously misanthropic, anti-modern medieval scholar, and he and Toole struck up a friendship.
Swift and Sure. The title of the novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, is based on a quote by the 18th-century Irish writer Jonathan Swift: “When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.” Swift was famous for satirical works such as Gulliver’s Travels.