John Kennedy Toole

John Kennedy Toole (1937–1969) was born and raised in New Orleans, a city whose culture, dialect, and eccentric characters would infuse every page of his masterpiece. A prodigy who entered Tulane University at sixteen, he earned a master's degree from Columbia and taught English at several universities while writing fiction. He completed A Confederacy of Dunces in the early 1960s, but repeated rejections from publishers—most devastatingly from Simon & Schuster editor Robert Gottlieb—drove him into depression. This author hub collects 1 work in the Canon Compass ranking, led by A Confederacy of Dunces.