On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

From Wikipedia:

Born December 17, 1937
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Died March 26, 1969 (aged 31)
Biloxi, Mississippi, United States
Occupation novelist, professor, soldier
Notable work(s)A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole (December 17, 1937 – March 26, 1969) was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana, best-known for his posthumously published novel A Confederacy of Dunces. He also wrote The Neon Bible. Although several people in the literary world felt his writing skills were praiseworthy, Toole's novels were rejected during his lifetime. After suffering from paranoia and depression due in part to these failures, he committed suicide at the age of 31.
Toole was born to a middle class family in New Orleans. From a young age, his mother taught him an appreciation of culture. She was thoroughly involved in his affairs for most of his life, and at times they had a difficult relationship. With his mother's encouragement, Toole became a stage performer at the age of 10 doing comic impressions and acting. At 16 he wrote his first novel, The Neon Bible, which he later dismissed as "adolescent".

Toole received an academic scholarship to Tulane University. After graduating from Tulane, he studied English at Columbia University in New York while teaching simultaneously at Hunter College. He also taught at various Louisiana colleges, and during his early career as an academician he was highly valued on the faculty party circuit for his rapier wit and impressionist skills. His studies were interrupted by his being drafted into the army to teach English to Spanish-speaking recruits in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After receiving a promotion, he used his private office to begin writing A Confederacy of Dunces, which he finished at his parents' home after his discharge.

Dunces is a picaresque novel featuring the misadventures of protagonist Ignatius J. Reilly, a lazy, obese, misanthropic, self-styled scholar who lives at home with his mother. It is hailed for its accurate depictions of New Orleans dialects. Toole based Reilly in part on his college professor friend Bob Byrne. Byrne's slovenly, eccentric behavior was anything but professorial, and Reilly mirrored him in these respects. The character was also based on Toole himself, and several personal experiences served as inspiration for passages in the novel. While at Tulane, Toole filled in for a friend at a job as a hot tamale cart vendor, and worked at a family owned and operated clothing factory. Both of these experiences were later adapted into his fiction.

Toole submitted Dunces to publisher Simon & Schuster, where it reached noted editor Robert Gottlieb. Gottlieb considered Toole talented but felt his comic novel was essentially pointless. Despite several revisions, Gottlieb remained unsatisfied, and after the book was rejected by another literary figure, Hodding Carter Jr., he shelved the novel. Suffering from depression and feelings of self-persecution, Toole left home on a journey around the country. He stopped in Biloxi, Mississippi to end his life by running a garden hose in from the exhaust of his car to the cabin. Some years later, his mother brought the manuscript of Dunces to the attention of novelist Walker Percy, who ushered the book into print. In 1981, Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

A book about Toole, Butterfly in the Typewriter, was published March 27, 2012.

Here is the link to the review of the book from The Roanoke Times.

http://blogs.roanoke.com/backcover/20...

Larry wrote: "A book about Toole, Butterfly in the Typewriter, was published March 27, 2012."

This is great! I always wondered why there wasn't a biography of him before now.

Thanks,Larry. I will definitely take a look at this bio. I roared with laughter when I read Confederacy of Dunces but was immediately saddened when I read about Kennedy's tragic death. In spite of Kennedy's success in academia,I can't help but wonder how autobiographical some of this novel is.Maybe I am being overly analytic but I have a feeling that if I read Confederacy again,my perceptions will be overshadowed by the author's desperation and subsequent suicide.

I just ordered the bio from Amazon. Can't wait!

I'll be watching for your review,Tajma!

Does anyone have references that discuss Toole's sexuality? In many circles this seems to be a verboten topic. Is it any of our business if Toole was a homosexual?

This is on my mind since I am just reading that Carson McCullers experienced bisexuality herself when she and her husband took same sex partners at some point in their tempestuous marriage.

And then of course there is Hemmingway...

Talk about Gay Pride!

Larry, the same question occurred to me when I read "Confederacy of Dunces." I have read a few articles in which the authors claim that Toole's confusion regarding his sexual orientation contributed to his depression but I don't think that anyone has sufficient documentation to substantiate that claim.

Is it any of our business? Probably not,especially since Toole seems to have been an extremely private person, but knowing more about his personal life might answer some questions regarding the cause of his suicide.Unless a psychological evaluation surfaces unexpectantly in the future,I suppose we will never know for sure. But one thing is certain,Toole was an amazing writer who left this earth way too soon.