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John Kennedy Toole

John Kennedy Toole (; December 17, 1937 – March 26, 1969) was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana, whose posthumously published novel, ''A Confederacy of Dunces'', won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. At 16 in 1954, he wrote his first novel, ''The Neon Bible'', which he shelved in the same year, not finding a willing publisher; he later dismissed it as "adolescent". Toole was a successful and popular professor, first at University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette), then Hunter College, and finally St. Mary's Dominican College in New Orleans. Having persuaded Simon & Schuster, however, to accept ''A Confederacy of Dunces'', he was unable to resolve editorial disputes. Due in part to the novel's failure, he suffered from paranoia and depression, dying by suicide at the age of 31.

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.

On an academic scholarship, Toole received his bachelor's degree from Tulane University in New Orleans. He then earned an MA in English Literature at Columbia University in New York. He returned to Columbia in pursuit of a PhD. While at Columbia, he taught at Hunter College. He also taught in Louisiana. During the early part of his academic career, his colleagues valued his wit and gift for mimicry, which he displayed at parties. 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 ''A Confederacy of Dunces'' to publisher Simon & Schuster, where it reached editor Robert Gottlieb. Gottlieb considered Toole quite talented, but did not regard the book's themes and conflicts as sufficiently meaningful, or culminating in a unified end. 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 where he died by suicide; he ran a garden hose from the car exhaust to the cabin he rented. After his death, his mother brought the manuscript of ''A Confederacy of Dunces'' to the attention of novelist Walker Percy, who was crucial in the book's publication. In 1981, Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Provided by Wikipedia