A Confederacy Of Dunces - 40 Years. As ever, Michael Wade has sparked memories and deep thinking in me, with his reference to this miracle of modern literature, "A Confederacy of Dunces", written in the Sixties and pushed into print by Walker Percy, winner of the National Book Award, and part of the triumvirate of literary greatness that populated my college, Loyola University of the South. Along with my professors, John William Corrington and Miller Williams, Walker Percy was the dean of Southern literature, and taught at Loyola a few years after I left for law school. The tragic story of John Kennedy Toole, who committed suicide before the book was published, is a novel in itself. But, it is no coincidence that Toole got his title from Jonathan Swift, whose sharp satire roiled British society and hypocrisy in general. Think of this book as Mad Magazine for the literary class. But, it is more than that. What better time to read about the laughable hypocrisy of the confederacy of dunces who populate positions of power in our society? 