John Kennedy Toole (December 17, 1937–March 26, 1969) was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces. Events 546 - Gothic War (535–554: The Ostrogoths of King Totila Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1026 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor. Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author preferably dealing with American life A Confederacy of Dunces is a Novel written by John Kennedy Toole, published in 1980, 11 years after the author's Suicide.

Toole's novels remained unpublished during his lifetime. Some years after his death by suicide, the author's mother Thelma Toole brought the manuscript of A Confederacy of Dunces to the attention of the novelist Walker Percy, who ushered the book into print. Thelma Agnes Ducoing Toole ( September 3 1901 – August 17 1984) was mother of author John Kennedy Toole, and her efforts led to Walker Percy ( May 28, 1916 &ndash May 10, 1990) was an American Southern author whose interests included Philosophy In 1981 Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author preferably dealing with American life

Life

Toole, known throughout his life to friends and family as "Ken", lived a sheltered childhood in Uptown New Orleans. His mother, Thelma Ducoing Toole, was a charmingly flamboyant but narcissistic woman, who doted on her only child. Toole's father worked as a car salesman and mechanic before succumbing to deafness and failing health, while his mother supplemented the family income with music lessons.

After earning an undergraduate degree from Tulane University, Toole received a master's degree at Columbia University, and spent a year as assistant professor of English at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana Lafayette) in Lafayette, Louisiana. Tulane University is a private, Nonsectarian, Coeducational Research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Columbia University is a private University in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of Literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U History Timeline 1898 - State approved the creation of an "industrial institute and academy Lafayette is a City in and the Parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. Toole's next academic post was in New York City, where he taught at Hunter College. The City of New York Hunter College High School|Hunter College Elementary School Hunter College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York Although he pursued a doctorate at Columbia, his studies were interrupted by his being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1961. Columbia University is a private University in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Toole served two years in Puerto Rico teaching English to Spanish-speaking recruits. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

Following his military service, Ken Toole returned to New Orleans to live with his parents and teach at Dominican College. St Mary’s Dominican College was a Liberal arts college for women in New Orleans. He spent much of his time hanging around the French Quarter with musicians and, on at least one occasion, helped a musician friend with his second job selling tamales from a cart. The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest and most famous neighborhood in the city of New Orleans Louisiana. A tamale ( Spanish tamal, from Nahuatl tamalli) is a traditional indigenous American food consisting of steam-cooked corn While at Tulane University, Toole had worked briefly in a men's clothing factory. Both of these experiences inspired memorable scenarios in his comic novel A Confederacy of Dunces.

Toole sent the manuscript of his novel, written during the early 1960s, to Simon and Schuster and, despite initial excitement about the work, the publisher eventually rejected it, commenting that it "isn't really about anything. Simon & Schuster Inc, a division of CBS Corporation, is a Publisher founded in New York in 1924 by Richard L "^[1] Toole's health began to deteriorate as he lost hope of seeing his work–which he considered a comic masterpiece–in print. He stopped teaching at Dominican, quit his doctoral classes and began to drink heavily while being medicated for severe headaches.

Toole's biographers, Rene Pol Nevils and Deborah George Handy, have suggested that a factor in Toole's depression was confusion about his sexuality and identity. In their biography, Ignatius Rising: The Life of John Kennedy Toole, they tracked down and interviewed many of Ken Toole's acquaintances. While one friend suggested that his domineering mother left no emotional room for any other woman in Toole's life (although he did date some women exclusively in his lifetime), others have disputed the suggestion that he was a homosexual, including David Kubach, a longtime friend who also served with Toole in the army. Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. The authors of his biography, Ignatius Rising, were not personally acquainted with him, and "not knowing him makes a big difference", Kubach said. ^[2]

Death

Toole disappeared on January 20, 1969, after a dispute with his mother. Events 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Receipts found in his car show that Toole drove to the west coast and then to Milledgeville, Georgia. Milledgeville is a town in and the County seat of Baldwin County in the U Here he visited the home of then deceased writer Flannery O'Connor. Mary Flannery O'Connor ( March 25 1925 &ndash August 3 1964) was an American Novelist, Short-story It was during what is assumed to be a trip back to New Orleans that Toole stopped outside Biloxi, Mississippi, and committed suicide by putting one end of a garden hose into the exhaust pipe of his car and the other into the window of the car in which he was sitting. He died due to self-induced asphyxiation on March 26, 1969. Events 1026 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor. Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. An envelope was left on the dashboard of the car and was marked "to my parents". However, the suicide note inside the envelope was destroyed by his mother, who made conflicting statements as to its general contents. He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans. Greenwood Cemetery is a Cemetery in New Orleans Louisiana. The cemetery was opened in 1852, and is located on City Park Avenue (formerly Metairie ^[3]

Works

After his death, Thelma Toole in 1976 insisted that author Walker Percy, by then a faculty member at Loyola University New Orleans, read the manuscript for Dunces. Walker Percy ( May 28, 1916 &ndash May 10, 1990) was an American Southern author whose interests included Philosophy Loyola University New Orleans is a private, Co-educational and Jesuit university located in New Orleans. Percy was hesitant at first, but eventually gave in and fell in love with the book. A Confederacy of Dunces was published in 1980, and Percy provided the foreword.

The first printing was only 2500 copies by LSU Press. ^[4] A number of these were sent to Scott Kramer, an executive and producer at 20th Century Fox, to pitch around Hollywood, but the book generated little initial interest there. ^[5] However, the novel attracted much attention in the literary world. A year later, in 1981, Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author preferably dealing with American life The book has sold more than 1. 5 million copies in 18 languages.

Toole's only other novel is The Neon Bible, which he wrote at age 16 and considered too juvenile a writing attempt to submit for publication while he was alive. The Neon Bible is John Kennedy Toole 's first Novel, written at the age of only 16 However, due to the great interest in Toole, The Neon Bible was published in 1989. The novel was made into a feature film of the same name in 1995; it was directed by Terence Davies. The Neon Bible is a 1995 Drama film written and directed by Terence Davies, based on the novel of the same name by John Kennedy Toole Terence Davies ( 10 November 1945 - is an English Screenwriter - Film director, sometime Novelist and Actor

Bibliography

Novels

• A Confederacy of Dunces (LSU Press, 1980). A Confederacy of Dunces is a Novel written by John Kennedy Toole, published in 1980, 11 years after the author's Suicide. The year 1980 in literature involved some significant events and new books
• The Neon Bible (Grove Press, 1989). The Neon Bible is John Kennedy Toole 's first Novel, written at the age of only 16 The year 1989 in literature involved some significant events and new books

Notes

References

Books

• Ronald W. Bell, "The Nihilistic Perspective of John Kennedy Toole," (California State University [Dominguez Hills] M. A. thesis, 2000).
• Joel L. Fletcher, Ken and Thelma: The Story of A Confederacy of Dunces, (Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, Louisiana, 2005). The City of Gretna is the Parish seat of Jefferson Parish, in the US state of Louisiana.
• Rene Pol Nevils and Deborah George Handy, Ignatius Rising: The Life of John Kennedy Toole, (LSU Press, 2001).

Websites

• John Kennedy Toole at Find-a-Grave
• First Printing of Confederacy of Dunces and memo from publisher