Confederacy of Dunces (Newsletter No. 18)

Demystifying the romantic fog of authors and artists

i figured out why the book feels like it doesn't have a point.

there is there no moral compass. there is conflict, just not moral conflict. no one to hate nor feel bad for. it's not even like bojack or walter white.

but Toole says quite a lot about human nature under the facade of a satirical farce. In other words, the book is a self aware cautionary tale under the guise of talking about a bunch of mostly bobos.

it’s cathartic to read such gratifyingly rude and delusional characters, and actually laugh out loud funny. 

the social ill of lack of critical thinking (whether it's the small town worries of the rest of the bunch or the "worldly" worries of Ignatius and Myrna, everyone is remarkably selfish) are hilariously pertinent. The battle against a leaking Freudian id and lack of self awareness is still apparent in our increasingly selfie culture.

the casual implications of the political landscape dynamics --in between the shenanigans of the characters-- seem consistently and sharply relevant. in the book life sucks for black people, they're just screwed. black people say fml, these white people are crazy. they got all the possibility in the world to do stuff and they throw it away.

in one part Ignatius meets a gay guy and goes to his party...and they're just in their own world as well. everyone has their own matrix.

for a lot of people, deep down ignatius is the most awful part of ourselves that we almost wish they could be if there weren't any ramifications. his mother and friends, are an example of the zombie-ish preoccupation with validation within the social circle. the book is an ego check, we make fun of the mom for her being dumb and caring about her hair and getting a boyfriend. but a lot of "educated" people are just as delusional about self-righteousness

if you’re stable and normal, then you’re hung up on how unlikeable the characters are…”what’s with all the drama, these people complain so much and don’t do anything”

and other people are like i KNOW those people, or i AM these people

for example the mother son relationship, you see that relationship in real life in all sorts of forms you see that complaining and awareness of what's wrong and then for the most part unwillingness to change the dynamic for fear of what will happen...that codependency to have something to fuss about.