A Confederacy of Dunces was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981.
John Kennedy Toole's comic novel was published posthumously in 1980, eleven years after the author's death. Its protagonist, Ignatius J. Reilly, is an eccentric and highly educated man living with his mother in New Orleans.
The novel's humor comes from Ignatius's clashes with work, family, police, and the city's social world. New Orleans is more than a backdrop: its neighborhoods, food, accents, and institutions shape the book's distinctive comic atmosphere.
Toole's mother brought the manuscript to novelist Walker Percy, who helped secure its publication. The book then gained strong critical attention and won the Pulitzer the following year. The title alludes to Jonathan Swift's satirical writing and to the novel's view of foolishness in society.