When A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole came out nearly 45 years ago, it must have been one of the strangest books ever written. Its protagonist, Ignatius C. Reilly, is truly unique: a highly educated philosophical social critic who happens to be an obese, unhygienic, hypocrite who brings chaos to any situation. He lives with his mother in New Orleans, writes manifestos and essays in his bedroom, obsessively hate-watches mindless TV shows and movies, and fervently cultivates a reactionary traditionalism while excusing his own obvious failures. He routinely denounces all aspects of modernity, recommends reading Boethius and Batman, and insists on wearing a green hunting cap and red flannel shirt.
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