Ken and Thelma: The Story of A Confederacy of Dunces

About this book

This valuable companion to Dunces will be a treat to those whove enjoyed the novel. Larry Thornberry Washington Times Before it won the Pulitzer Prize and became an international bestseller A Confederacy of Dunces was a rejected manuscript by an unknown New Orleans professor named John Kennedy Toole. It languished in a closet after Tooles suicide for years until his mother discovered it. Almost as compelling as the novels plot is the story of the books publication and Tooles posthumous winning of the Pulitzer Prize driven by the indomitable will of his mother. From personal letters contemporary journals and family photos author Joel L. Fletcher recalls his friendship with Toole during the early 1960s and his long supportive friendship with Tooles mother Thelma Ducoing Toole.