Episode 37: Boethius and John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces
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In this episode, I speak with podcast regular (see episode 14 on Walker Percy), Professor Jessica Hooten Wilson, about Boethius\\u2019s Consolation of Philosophy and John Kennedy Toole\\u2019s A Confederacy of Dunces. We discuss one of the greatest literary figures of all time, Ignatius J. Reilly, \\u201cslob extraordinary, a mad Oliver Hardy, a fat Don Quixote, a perverse Thomas Aquinas all rolled into one\\u201d and his \\u201cgreat gaseous rages and lunatic adventures.\\u201d We discuss why a recent New Yorker hit piece on Ignatius is just plain embarrassing for its author, insofar as it displays an all too familiar inability to read books. But it is not difficult to be more intellectually sophisticated than the New Yorker these days, and we invite you to read this Pulitzer Prize novel as the work of comic art it truly is. I hope you enjoy laughter, because there is quite a bit in this episode!
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