John Kennedy Toole Quote
Magnolias don't look like that, Ignatius said, thrusting his cutlass at the offending pastel magnolia. You ladies need a course in botany. And perhaps geometry, too.You don't have to look at our work, an offended voice said from the group, the voice of the lady who had drawn the magnolia in question.Yes, I do! Ignatius screamed. You ladies need a critic with some taste and decency. Good heavens! Which one of you did this camellia? Speak up. The water in this bowl looks like motor oil.Let us alone, a shrill voice said.You women had better stop giving teas and brunches and settle down to the bustiness of learning how to draw, Ignatius thundered. First, you must learn how to handle a brush. I would suggest that you all get together and paint someone's house for a start.Go away.Had you 'artists' had a part in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel, it would have ended up looking like a particularly vulgar train terminal, Ignatius snorted.
Magnolias don't look like that, Ignatius said, thrusting his cutlass at the offending pastel magnolia. You ladies need a course in botany. And perhaps geometry, too.You don't have to look at our work, an offended voice said from the group, the voice of the lady who had drawn the magnolia in question.Yes, I do! Ignatius screamed. You ladies need a critic with some taste and decency. Good heavens! Which one of you did this camellia? Speak up. The water in this bowl looks like motor oil.Let us alone, a shrill voice said.You women had better stop giving teas and brunches and settle down to the bustiness of learning how to draw, Ignatius thundered. First, you must learn how to handle a brush. I would suggest that you all get together and paint someone's house for a start.Go away.Had you 'artists' had a part in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel, it would have ended up looking like a particularly vulgar train terminal, Ignatius snorted.
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About John Kennedy Toole
Toole was born to a middle-class family in New Orleans. From a young age, his mother, Thelma, taught him an appreciation of culture. She was thoroughly involved in his affairs for most of his life, and at times they had a difficult relationship. With his mother's encouragement, Toole became a stage performer at the age of 10 doing comic impressions and acting. At 16 he wrote his first novel, The Neon Bible, which he later dismissed as "adolescent".
Toole received an academic scholarship to Tulane University in New Orleans. After graduating from Tulane, he studied English Literature at Columbia University in New York while teaching simultaneously at Hunter College. He also taught at various Louisiana colleges, and during his early career as an academic he was valued on the faculty party circuit for his wit and gift for mimicry. His studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army, where he taught English to Spanish-speaking recruits in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After receiving a promotion, he used his private office to begin writing A Confederacy of Dunces, which he finished at his parents' home after his discharge.
Toole submitted Dunces to publisher Simon & Schuster, where it reached editor Robert Gottlieb. Gottlieb considered Toole talented but felt his comic novel was essentially pointless. Despite several revisions, Gottlieb remained unsatisfied, and after the book was rejected by another literary figure, Hodding Carter Jr., Toole shelved the novel. Suffering from depression and feelings of persecution, Toole left home on a journey around the country. He stopped in Biloxi, Mississippi, ending his life by running a garden hose in from the exhaust of his car to the cabin. Some years later, his mother brought the manuscript of Dunces to the attention of novelist Walker Percy, who ushered the book into print. In 1981, Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.