Ignatius Rising: The Life of John Kennedy Toole

René Pol Nevils, Deborah George Hardy

LSU Press, Apr 1, 2005 - Biography & Autobiography - 272 pages

The phenomenal success of John Kennedy Toole's comic masterpiece, A Confederacy of Dunces, is now legendary, a story that has long beckoned a deeper exploration into the life, imagination, and demise of the writer responsible for one of American literature's most memorable characters -- Ignatius J. Reilly. In Ignatius Rising, René Pol Nevils and Deborah George Hardy present the first biography of Toole, drawing upon scores of interviews with contemporaries of the writer and acquaintances of his influencing mother, Thelma, as well as unpublished letters, documents, and photographs. Frank yet sympathetic, Ignatius Rising deftly describes a life that is dark, tragic, bizarre, and amazing -- but luminous with the gift of laughter, a life not unlike those of Toole's beloved characters, now loved the world over.

Contents

• One: 5
• Two: 15
• Three: 27
• Four: 40
• Five: 50
• Six: 64
• Seven: 78
• Eight: 89
• Nine: 101
• Ten: 118
• Eleven: 129
• Twelve: 147
• Thirteen: 159
• Fourteen: 173
• Fifteen: 196
• Note on Sources: 227

Popular passages

Page 3 - ... 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.

Page 3 - 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.

Page 2 - ... that her son, who was dead, had written an entire novel during the early sixties, a big novel, and she wanted me to read it. Why would I want to do that? I asked her. Because it is a great novel, she said. Over the years I have become very good at getting out of things I don't want to do. And if ever there was something I didn't want to do, this was surely it: to deal with the mother of a dead novelist and, worst of all, to have to read a manuscript that she said was great, and that, as it turned...

About the author

René Pol Nevils lives in Baton Rouge with her husband, Rick. Deborah George Hardy is a member of the Paris Poetry Workshops and founding director of Littlestarfriends.com. She lives in Pasadena, California.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Ignatius Rising: The Life of John Kennedy Toole
• Authors: René Pol Nevils, Deborah George Hardy
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: LSU Press, 2005
• ISBN: 0807130591, 9780807130599
• Length: 272 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures