On March 26th, 1969 John Kennedy Toole drove to a deserted road in Biloxi, Mississippi and ran a hose from his exhaust, taking his own life. Toole was dealing with a variety of personal problems, including the rejection of his novel, “A Confederacy of Dunces”. His novel had gotten attention from publishers, but no one was willing buy it. Accounts of Toole’s mental state vary during the last few months of his life, but there is no doubt he was dealing with depression and possibly paranoia. Years after his death his mother found the manuscript and approached Walker Percy to read it. Walker liked it and convinced LSU press to publish it and in 1980 “A Confederacy of Dunces” won the Pulitzer Prize, validating Toole’s talent, his mother’s faith and Percy’s vision. It’s tempting to say had ‘Dunces’ been published in his lifetime things might have been different, but it is impossible to really understand why Toole took his life. John Kennedy Toole was cheated out of a long writing career and we have missed out what else the creator of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces” might have written had he not died on this day in 1969.

On March 26th, 1969 John Kennedy Toole drove to a deserted road in Biloxi, Mississippi and ran a hose from his exhaust, taking his own life. Toole was dealing with a variety of personal problems, including the rejection of his novel, “A Confederacy of Dunces”. His novel had gotten attention from publishers, but no one was willing buy it. Accounts of Toole’s mental state vary during the last few months of his life, but there is no doubt he was dealing with depression and possibly paranoia. Years after his death his mother found the manuscript and approached Walker Percy to read it. Walker liked it and convinced LSU press to publish it and in 1980 “A Confederacy of Dunces” won the Pulitzer Prize, validating Toole’s talent, his mother’s faith and Percy’s vision. It’s tempting to say had ‘Dunces’ been published in his lifetime things might have been different, but it is impossible to really understand why Toole took his life. John Kennedy Toole was cheated out of a long writing career and we have missed out what else the creator of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces” might have written had he not died on this day in 1969. http://ift.tt/1NeTnl1