Ignatius Rising: The Life of John Kennedy Toole

In Ignatius Rising, Rene Pol Nevils and Deborah George Hardy present the first biography of John Kennedy Toole, a work based upon scores of interviews with contemporaries of the writer and acquaintances of his mother, Thelma, as well as unpublished letters, documents, and photographs. Known variously as "Ken," "Tooley," and "John," Toole is revealed to have been many things: a coddled only child; an academic prodigy; a soul tortured by conflicting feelings for his mother and about his sexual identity; a fun-loving cut-up, a master of mimicry, and a conversationalist nonpareil; an impeccable, popular college teacher; a straitlaced constant worrier by day and a back-street blues devotee at night; a writer who cherished the many nuances of his native city, New Orleans; and a man ultimately depressed, overweight, hard-drinking, promiscuous, and mad.