A Confederacy of Dunces
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
Johnathan Swift
This novel is simply exelent. Maybe the best way to know this is reading Walker Percy's prologue.
"...the lady was persistent, and it somehow came to pass that she stood in my office handing me the hefty manuscript. There was no getting out of it; only one hope remained—that I could read a few pages and that they would be bad enough for me, in good conscience, to read no farther. Usually I can do just that. Indeed the first paragraph often suffices. My only fear was that this one might not be bad enough, or might be just good enough, so that I would have to keep reading.
In this case I read on. And on. First with the sinking feeling that it was not bad enough to quit, then with a prickle of interest, then a growing excitement, and finally an incredulity: surely it was not possible that it was so good.
The "Confederacy of Dunces" is now considered a canonical work of modern literature.
It is simply a novel in wich, started reading it, all the time are confident that we will finish reading. Like most usual of these geniuses belatedly recognized, the first chapter is a literary bomb, which leaves us with many wanting more. The protagonist is Ignatius Reilly has a brilliant mind, so bright that our perception of genius will be disrupted, spiral wich we can not leave until the end of the play, in which we will no longer be the same.
John Kennedy Toole he born in New Orleans in 1937 and died in 1969. The constant denial of the publication of his work led him to a deep depression that would end with his suicide. The posthumous publication of A Confederacy of Dunces established him as one of the best American novelist of all time.
