Acknowledgments

This book culminates a five-year journey of research and writing, which began when Toole’s friend Joel Fletcher and his partner, John Copenhaver, opened their home to me on a cold winter day in 2005. Ever since, they have offered me a wealth of resources, insight, and encouragement. I am forever indebted to them.

Through Fletcher, I met filmmakers Joe Sanford, Charles Richard, and Bobbie Westerfield in February of 2009, as they started production of the documentary John Kennedy Toole: The Omega Point. Sanford and I struck an immediate friendship, which became a remarkable, creative relationship. Through sharing our findings and our musings, the biography and the documentary grew in tandem. They are separate projects, but they were largely shaped by our collaboration.

I am grateful to the entire staff at the Special Collections Library at Tulane University, especially Bruce Boyd Raeburn, Lee Miller, Susanna Powers, Eira Tansey, Sean Benjamin, Ann Case, and Lori Schexnayder. Without their stewardship to the John Kennedy Toole Papers, a biography of Toole would be impossible.

Other archives proved helpful as well. Bruce Turner at the Special Collections Library at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette gave me access to documents relating to Toole’s time at the school. Also at ULL, James Wilson sent me unpublished information on Toole he had found in the estate of Patricia Rickels. The library at Hunter College and Columbia University provided materials detailing the climate of those institutions in the late 1950s and early ’60s.

In addition to archival materials, much of the information gathered from the various stages of Toole’s life came from interviews. His childhood friend John Geiser graciously gave me a tour of Uptown New Orleans as we chatted about his memories of the author. I appreciate Harold Toole, Emilie Dietrich Griffin, Rhoda Faust, Clayelle Dalferes, Jane Stickney Gwyn, Jane Pic Adams, Charlotte Powers, Sydney Poger, Ellen Friedman, Mary Morgan, George Deaux, and John Hantel for the time they dedicated to answering my questions. Dawn Held at Lusher Charter School gave me access to Fortier newspapers and yearbooks. And Tyler Alpern provided information on Frances Faye. I am also delighted to have met Lynda Martin who recounted the many wonderful stories of Toole and her brother, Cary Laird, who passed away in 2008. Cary’s partner, Myrna Swyers, also, retold the hilarious stories that Cary used to tell and contributed pictures of the influential Laird-Toole trip to Mississippi. I hope in some way this book serves as a testimony to the friendship between Toole and Laird.

It is quite possible that A Confederacy of Dunces would have never been written if it were not for Toole’s experience in Puerto Rico. Dave Kubach, Tony Moore, Walter Carreiro, James Alsup, and Harry Edinger willingly shared their memories of Sergeant Toole as well as life in the army in Puerto Rico in the early 1960s.

Jo Ann Cruz and Karen Anklam of Loyola University set up several important interviews as well. I will always cherish the Saturday morning spent with Bunt Percy and Mary Pratt Percy Lobdell, casually chatting about their memories of Walker Percy, Flannery O’Connor, and Eudora Welty. By way of Anklam, I enjoyed an afternoon with Sister Dorothy Dawes, who once taught with Toole at St. Mary’s Dominican College, followed by a tour of the old Dominican building. To the alumnae of Dominican, especially Joan Bowen, Elise Diament, Barbara Howard, Candace de Russy, and Pam Guerin—I have carried your heartfelt sentiments for Professor Toole throughout the writing of this book.

I am especially grateful to Robert Gottlieb who gave me permission to publish portions of his letters and offered his perspective on the issue of Toole and the accusations Thelma Toole made against him.

While I was many years too late to interview Bobby Byrne, fortunately Carmine Palumbo did so in 1995. And he graciously shared with me his recorded interview of a true New Orleans character.

Of course, this book would have been nothing more than an idea without my agent, William Clark; my editor, Ben Schafer; and the staff at Da Capo. The talents of Lori Hobkirk at the Book Factory, Cynthia Young at Sagecraft, copy editor Beth Fraser, and proofreader Sandy Chapman guided the book into print. The Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association provided an early source of support, kindly awarding me a grant making possible my first research trip to New Orleans. And Matt Wunder contributed editorial feedback on one of the first drafts.

Furthermore, I thank Germanna Community College, especially David Sam and my colleagues Diane Critchfield, Michael Zitz Beckham, and the library staff, who encouraged me throughout this whole process.

Unfortunately, some people passed away during the writing of this book. Patricia Rickels and Nick Polites shared with me their priceless insights and I regret they never saw this biography in print.

I thank my mother and father who taught me to live life as a voyage of infinite possibilities.

And most of all I thank my wife (my first editor) for her unwavering support and my two children who weathered well my long durations of silence as I hacked away at the manuscript.

To all of those who I have mentioned and failed to mention here, I hope that these pages serve as the highest sign of my appreciation.