The Peculiar Truth about the Pulitzer Author’s Mother

• In 1981, John Kennedy Toole’s first novel was released. One year later, A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

• Toole personally didn’t receive the award, however. His mother, Thelma Toole, accepted on his behalf.

• He had tried to find a publisher for years with no success. His mother managed that feat for him, too.

• Aside from writing the manuscript - the main feat, of course - John Kennedy Toole had no input regarding the publication of A Confederacy of Dunces.

• He wasn’t alive when it received the Pulitzer. Or when it was published. Or when its eventual publishers read the manuscript for the first time before giving it the green light. He wasn’t even party to the editing process.

• That’s because John Kennedy Toole took his own life in 1969 at age 32 - more than a decade before his famous novel’s release.

• The book would never have seen the light of day if not for his indefatigable mother.

• John Kennedy Toole was born in December 1937. He was raised in New Orleans. His father was a car salesman. His mother Thelma taught piano and gave private acting lessons.

• Young John had an exceptionally high IQ, and Thelma believed her only child was a savant. She kept him away from other kids. With her guidance, John took up acting at age 10. She got him into children’s theater, modeling, and radio. Thelma was a stereotypical domineering showbiz mother.

• Unlike his character Ignatius J. Reilly, John Toole was driven and well-liked. He was editor of his high school newspaper, a member of the Honor Society, and voted Most Intelligent among his classmates. He wrote a novel, The Neon Bible, at age 16.

• John got a full scholarship to Tulane University and graduated in 1958. He then went to New York City to study literature at Columbia University. Then he taught at New Orleans universities and was known for his sense of humor.

• In 1961, he was drafted into the US Army. While stationed in Puerto Rico, he wrote A Confederacy of Dunces.

• JFK’s assassination depressed Toole and sent him into alcoholism. He rewrote Dunces and sent it out to publishers.

• Toole was adamant that only Simon & Schuster could publish his book. No other company would do. An editor, Robert Gottlieb, read it and recommended changes. His main critique was that “it isn’t really about anything.” Toole disregarded Gottlieb’s suggestions, and their correspondences ended after two years. (Gottlieb later called passing on Dunces a “conspicuous failure.”)

• Thelma pushed her son to send his manuscript to other editors. When further rejections ensued, Toole resented his meddling mother.

• Both Toole and his father then descended into madness. His father suffered dementia. Toole grew increasingly paranoid, gained weight, and drank too much. He was let go from his teaching job.

• March 1969: Fed up with his domineering mother and slipping into a mental illness, John Kennedy Toole left home and eventually took his own life in Biloxi, MS. He left a suicide note that Thelma destroyed.

• After his death, she sent her son’s manuscript to 7 publishers over 5 years. They all rejected it. But she wouldn’t quit.

• Walker Percy was a well-known Southern author who won the National Book Award for his 1961 novel The Moviegoer. Like Toole’s book, Percy’s novels were set in New Orleans. Thelma believed he could advocate for her son’s posthumous publication. She badgered the author until he caved in.

• Percy thought he would hate it. Instead, he loved the story.

• At his urging, the Louisiana State University Press published A Confederacy of Dunces in 1981. Percy even wrote the foreword.

• To the amazement of many, except perhaps Thelma, the book gained an audience. The New York Times praised it. The novel became a cult classic.

• Film rights were purchased by none other than Johnny Carson. John Belushi was considered for the lead role. So were John Candy, John Goodman, Chris Farley, and Zach Galifianakis. In 2015, Nick Offerman portrayed Ignatius J. Reilly in a stage play, but no film of the book has yet been made.

• To date, A Confederacy of Dunces has sold over 2 million copies worldwide - thanks in no small part to the author’s relentless mother.

• Also:

• In 1996, a statue of the main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, was unveiled in New Orleans. It can still be found on Canal Street in the French Quarter.