...but Wallace Shawn has it in spades. I read Fever in an hour. Short solid piece that would be claustrophobic to put on the way he wants. (In groups of 10-12 people in homes, rather than in a theater) But the theme has been done just as well, in other plays and monologues.

Marie and Bruce- harsh, visceral funny, and I can't think any work that better illustrates the worthlessness of language. Miscommunication is my favorite theme, and this play shows it's hand at that in different ways (party banter, "lover's" spat, what isn't said but hangs in the air like an albatross about to meet it's fate) to great effect. People have misread it before (not here, I haven't read these) claiming Marie to be a shrew, and there to be nothing going on or that the play goes "nowhere" without letting the play fully unfold before them.

All communication inevitably and inherently lacks. It is the great leveling field. Watching the characters NOT interact, and go nowhere hits like a sucker punch, for we're all suckers aren't we. Fools to think we have meaning. Laughable that we assume we are connecting. Yeah, I laughed 'till I cried with this one. Wouldn't miss it for the world.

Fans of Semiotext(e)USA might like this.

Bought this book sight unseen from QPB a few years ago and was absolutely amazed, as was the professor quoted in the foreword, at its high quality. As the first person to publish Emily Dickinson's poems must have felt, surely no writer this good could possibly have gone unpublished! I have read thousands of novels over the years and maintained my own personal reviews and ratings. My highest rating, five stars, is reserved for true classics that reward unlimited re-readings. Very few books receive that accolade. This is one. "Dunces" is one of the funniest books ever published in the English language, tragicomic in the Rabelaisan, Cervantes sense of the word, but also falling-down-on-the-floor hilarious. Laughed 'til the tears came, and then I couldn't stop weeping. Couldn't stop turning pages, just to see what could possibly happen next. It is tempting to regret Toole's death, and to wonder if perhaps he would have produced more works of this caliber. In great art, though, quantity seldom equals quality. Toole was a shooting star who captured in "Dunces" his bittersweet understanding of the human condition for the edification of all future generations.

I absolutely loved and completely enjoyed this book. If you've heard that this book is funny, it isn't one of those laugh-a-minute books peppered with lame jokes that we've read a dozen times over in other books or heard on televisions' saddest sitcoms. In fact, its a completely different brand of humour. 'This book sure can make me laugh.' For instance, one particular description of our unlikely hero sitting on a stool and looking like a brinjal balanced on a thumbtack made me burst out laughing whilst lining up for the bus. But one cannot attribute all the laughs to Ignatius, but share it amongst every single one of the supporting cast. Not a single word written by John Kennedy Toole was out of place. His juxtaposing of choice words describing the plights in which Ignatius got himself into were works of brilliance. It really is a pity that we will never be able to indulge ourselves in similarly wonderful books again. We have lost a literary genius who managed to convey not just humour, but a deeper meaning concerning human behaviour and thought in his writing. And to think I just picked this book randomly off a shelf.

Every once in a while you happen upon a book by chance, only to discover later that here, in your hands, is a work worth more than you paid. A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES is such a work.

Through A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, John Kennedy Toole has created one of the greatest tragic anti-heroes of our time. Ignatious J. Reilly is a character among characters, a beomouth of a man, a wit and a fibber beyond all, the original slacker - one whose curious logic and outlook on the world can only be compared to Don Quiote. Having graduated from college, Ignatious' main goal is to live out his life in his tiny bedroom, away from society, writing passage after passage of brilliant verse for the very audience whose company he rejects. Ignatious despises all things, believing that the American Culture is thoroughly lacking in "theology and geometry" and that nothing short of a good lashing will save many a soul.

A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES takes place a short time ago in the outskirts of New Orleans, where the city's true character is hidden from our tourist eyes, and yet the New Orleans of Toole could easily be Brooklyn or Los Angeles or Boston. In fact Toole's world is an utterly American experience, with accents and characters that spring to life and echo in your mind as the words flow beneath your eyes. Here we are presented with a literary "Green Acres." And though the book introduces you to an assortment of individuals, Toole's mastery of dialogue keeps each one fresh in your mind, without the confusion or blandishment that other authors might show. Each character is just that, and no two could ever be confused. Along with Ignatious J. Reilly, we are presented with

- Mrs. Reilly, a souse of a mother whose voice and patter will resonate in your mind

- Officer Mancuso, a patrolman who is the embodiment of the Sad-Sackian cop

- Jones, a self made victim of sorts whose wit and comebacks kept me laughing out loud

- Myrna Minkoff, Ignatious' pseudo-ex-girlfriend and an activist who believes that through sex all problems can be solved

And yet with these and many more characters, it is the voice and the soul of Igatious who dominates this work. Reading it is to join him and his cast in one ill-begotten adventure after another.

The novel begins with Igatious waiting for the return of his mother, who has set off to buy the very item which he needs the least of - cake. Officer Mancuso happens upon Igatious, and based on Igatious' sloven, beomouth appearance, he decides to question Ignatious, with the possible intent of arresting him, for officer Mancuso has been assigned the very demanding task of arresting any suspicious "characters" he might find. It is with this pretext that we begin a journey into what I can only describe as an immensely enjoyable read.

After recieving a Pulitzer Prize for A Confederacy of Dunces, John Toole's The Neon Bible was published in 1989. At the age of 16 he was writing this book for a literary contest.

In a small, southern town in Mississippi lived a boy named David. He spent most of his time taking walks and following around his Aunt Mae. He grew up relying on her thoughts and opinions which later conflicted when she wasn't around.

The town was so consumed with the politics of the church and they forgot the real meaning. As a boy, he was ridiculed for not being a part of the church because his Poppa didn't pay the dues. David could see the light of the neon bible shinning bright from his home. To him the bible was a symbol of God fearing neighbors. From page to page we learn his thoughts and feelings about life, love, and religous views. David's thoughts and feelings conflicted with his inner-self and surroundings.

As a young writter Toole wrote an easy to read, but yet descriptive novel. Throughout the book he uses flashbacks, similes, and metaphors. The book had a constant flow that made it enjoyable.

There is no doubt in my mind that John Kennedy Toole was a colossal genius. "A Confederacy of Dunces" is one of my all-time favourite books (and steadily makes its way up the list each time I re-read it), a rambunctious, comic masterpiece on a par with "Tristram Shandy".

While "Neon Bible" could not be more different from "A Confederacy of Dunces", it is for all that something of a treasure.

I think of it like this: "A Confederacy of Dunces" is a city novel (specifically, a New Orleans novel). "Neon Bible" is a country novel. The foot has been taken off the accelerator. The pace has gone slack. You get time to smell the coffee, look up at the birds in the trees, float downstream on Huck Finn's raft. All that.

The narrator of "Neon Bible" (like John Kennedy Toole at the time of writing, funnily enough) is a kid. He watches various lives fall apart. He attempts to become an adult (he attempts to reconcile himself to adult activity and develop adult understanding), and he fails and he runs away.

In lots of ways, "Neon Bible" is like a bird that settles, to your surprise, on your hand. Only you are clumsy (you are Lenny from "Of Mice and Men"). You crush the pretty bird and the end of the book is (quite remarkably, and out of nowhere) the bloody remnants of all those organs and bones crushed between your fingers.

You never see it coming. The book reads like a painting. It's so beautiful (and you ask yourself: how did a sixteen year old write this?) you want to touch it, only when you do, the paint gets all over your hands. Everything is ruined. By which I mean to say that it isn't until the end that you realise the peace that pervades the book is - like the little bird in your hand - fragile and easily lost.

The Neon Bible tells of one boy's struggle to grow up in small-town America during the war years. It paints a picture of a small, claustrophobic world oppressed by narrow religious bigotry that eventually leads the story-teller to find the courage to make decisions that would change his life.

A tender, nostalgic, powerful novel written simply but effectively, The Neon Bible evokes emotions that are communicated in clean, direct prose. John Kennedy Toole wrote this book when he was only sixteen. He followed it years later by A Confederacy of Dunces, which was to win him a posthumous Pulitzer Prize. Though I don't believe The Neon Bible can match his brilliant second book, it is still an amazing achievement for a sixteen year old, and clearly demonstrates the true loss suffered by the literary world upon Toole's premature death in 1969.

Most writers, even those who have been writing for years with a modicum of success, would dearly like to be able to pen a novel as powerfully effective as The Neon Bible. It many ways, it makes me think of John Grisham's attempt to break out of the mould when he wrote 'A Painted House'. The difference is that Toole touches numerous raw nerves that Grisham does not. (In fairness, Toole could probably never have handled courtroom drama like Grisham!).

If, like me, you enjoy reading books that cover a broad spectrum of topics, The Neon Bible should most definitely be on your book shelf.

I finished Ignatius Rising very quickly, maybe because of my great interest in the book A Confederacy of Dunces. There is certainly a wealth of information here for the Dunces fan. I must say right off that Gottlieb ,the N Y editor, seemed to want the book to be perfect or maybe was just making excuses because something in the book offended him. I didn't feel he was really trying to help Toole, more like just stringing him along. The authors here play down that Gottlieb might have been offended with something in the book and therefore didn't give it it's due consideration. I still don't buy that, after all Gottlieb read the m.s. so he must have realized that Dunces was a masterpiece. I think editors having so much power over an artist's work can be a little intoxicating and blinding, at least this may have prooved true for the editor in question here. I don't really know of course and there are still unanswered questions in this regard upon completing this informative work. There are facts here I never knew, like there being an earlier version of Dunces with Ignatius being called something else. Towards the end of the book the tragic visitation of Toole's depression makes for tough reading. The authors deserve a lot of credit for digging out this much info on Dunces and Toole. I just can't say after reading this tragic story that I walk away from this book with an all together good feeling.

This book is a fascinating look at the troubled life of the man who gave us one of the funniest and most memorable American novels of all time, "A Confederacy of Dunces". Toole was odd, brilliant with words, confused, sometimes scathing, but very likable despite his problems. His mother, on the other hand... oh my god! When you are done with this novel, you will understand why the characters in "Confederacy..." are the way they are. You'll be heartbroken at Toole's decision to kill himself, mystified by both his decisions about his book and the last weeks of his life, and stunned by his mother's interactions with everyone. There were parts of this bio that were so painful that I had to close it- yet it was so compelling a story that I had to open it again right away. The authors covered nearly everything from every angle, and their sources are diverse and really flesh out Toole's different lives. (You'll know what that means when you read this book.)

I still remember the first time I read "Confederacy of Dunces" lying on the bed in my college dorm room, kicking my feet laughing. I have returned to it many times and still consider it the funniest book ever.

So when I saw the biography of J.K. Toole, the author and suicide, in my local bookstore I had to buy it. I did not anticipate, though, being so swept up. The authors do an outstanding job compiling the minute details of Toole's too-short life, which could not have been easy since he was unknown and until well after his death. I was surprised how interested I could be in his grade school years-- although that is in large part owed to my fascination with Toole going in.

The key mystery to me has always been about Toole's relationship with Robert Gottlieb. For an unpublished novelist (indeed he had barely published anything) to gain the attention of perhaps the leading book editor of his genration is incredible. What happened? Why was it not published?

It's hard to fault Gottlieb. His letters-- reproduced over his own initial objoections-- show his committment to the book. On the other hand, his objections to the book-- that it lacked "meaning"-- were, however sincere, maddeningly unhelpful and unspecific, as he admitted.

Thelma Toole is presented as a domineering, overbearing, grandiose nutcase. But her successful effort to finally have the book published shows a great strength. It's actually inspiring.

Toole eventually killed himself after despainring of the book ever being published. This "failure" hardly explains his act-- how many failed authors go on with their lives or write a second book that is published? Suggestions are made about his homosexulaty (closeted) and his finances (bad since he had to support his parents). Neither is enough. But the events leading to the tragedy, the descent into madness, are touchingly detailed.

One mystery remains. Nevils and Hardy, also first time authors, show that Toole was an excellent student, though hardly a world-beater when he ventured beyond New Orleans. They reproduce many of his letters. While the letters are fine, there is not a single inkling of either the prose style, the imagination, or the comedy that is on every page of Toole's novel. Though we are told constantly how funny Toole was in real life, we never see it. Where did the genius in the book spring from, and why was it not eviedent in any of his other work?

A chilling thought occurred to me towards the end of the book. The authors reproduce a letter from Thelma Toole to her lawyer. Shen concludes a trademark harangue: "My nervous system is drained by this harrwoing legal matter." That's Ignatius all over.

Is it possible that Thelma had a hand in the book or was-- even weirder-- it's ghostwriter? It's a bizzare notion and I have not one shred of evidence to back it up. But throughout the biography, Thelma is portrayed as not of the sensibility to even appreciate the book or its humor. Yet she is the one person-- including J.K. Toole-- who had the strength and faith to see the project through.

In the end, I recommend "Ignatius Rising" to anyone who read "Confederacy" and loved it. As to those who read it and did not love it, they lack all sense of taste or decency. As to those who never read the novel, read it first, then read the biography of the tragic author who (probably) created it.