A Confederacy of Dunces Resources

Websites

A Tour Through Ignatius's New Orleans

A writer has gone through the entire novel, visited every single place mentioned in it, and taken photographs. From a bus station like that in which Officer Mancuso spent his lonely vigil to the Prytania movie theater, everything is here.

Articles and Interviews

The Confederacy of Dunces in Development Hell

The long, painful, unsuccessful history of trying to make a movie version of A Confederacy of Dunces.

The Real-Life Ignatius Reilly

An excerpt from Cory MacLauchlin's biography of John Kennedy Toole Butterfly in the Typewriter, which reveals the true-life, fat, lazy, flatulent lover of Boethius who inspired the creation of Ignatius Reilly.

Searching for the Original Manuscript of A Confederacy of Dunces

Cory MacLauchlin, Toole's biographer, describes his effort to find the original manuscript of the novel.

Toole's Life, Book, and Suicide

Cory MacLauchlin describes Toole's failed efforts to publish his book, and his slide into depression and eventually suicide.

Loving Ignatius Reilly

Giancarlo DiTrapano explains how he realized he was gay after reading about Ignatius Reilly masturbating.

Video

One of the Funniest Books Ever Written

In a brief video, author Michael Lewis argues that John Kennedy Toole captured New Orleans street life like no other writer.

A Biography of John Kennedy Toole

The one-hour documentary biography John Kennedy Toole: Omega Point, available for viewing at the film's official website.

Images

The Ignatius Reilly Statue

A bronze statue of Ignatius Reilly stands on Canal Street in New Orleans at the former site of the D.H. Holmes Department Store, where the first scene of A Confederacy of Dunces takes place. Reilly is dressed in his standard get-up of hunting cap, baggy pants and scarf.

The D.H. Holmes Department Store

The store outside which the first scene of the novel takes place. The department store was changed into a hotel in 1995.

A Sexy Image From Red Dust

A still from the film that inspired Mr. Reilly to uncharacteristic amorousness, culminating in Ignatius's conception.