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Chapter 22 - A Flaneur in the French Quarter and Beyond

John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2019

By
Cory MacLauchlin
Edited by
T. R. Johnson
T. R. Johnson
Affiliation:
Tulane University, Louisiana
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Summary

Charles Baudelaire’s notion of the flaneur – a figure who mingles with crowds and street scenes but also observes and documents the sights from a distance – captures well the early life of John Kennedy Toole and the character of Ignatius Reilly at the center of his famous novel. Ignatius is modeled upon a colleague of Toole’s at a small college in Lafayette, Louisiana, a scholar of Medieval culture and history who came from New Orleans. It also traces the novel’s publication history and extraordinary success in the Spanish-speaking world, as well as the tragic end to young novelist’s life by suicide.

Keywords

LafayetteWalker PercyLoyolaBobby ByrneBarcelonaMadridDon QuixotesuicideflaneurMiddle Ages
Type
Chapter
Information
New Orleans
A Literary History
 , pp. 292 - 300
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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