A Confederacy of Dunces

This is the book Jess is reading when his girlfriend arrives to meet him.

A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel by John Kennedy Toole, written in 1963 but published in 1980, eleven years after Toole’s death by suicide. It became a cult classic, then a mainstream success, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. The title refers to an epigram from Jonathan Swift’s essay, Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting: “When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.”

The protagonist of the novel is Ignatius J. Reilly, an educated but lazy thirty-year-old man living with his mother in the Uptown district of New Orleans in the early 1960s. He has been called a modern Don Quixote, an eccentric and idealistic slob who disdains pop culture, and believes that his numerous failings are the working of a higher power. Due to a car accident his mother gets in, Ignatius must work for the first time in many years to pay off her damages bill, moving from one low-paid job to another and having various adventures with colourful characters in the French Quarter of the city.

The novel is famous for its rich depiction of New Orleans and its dialects, many locals seeing it as the best and most accurate fictional depiction of the city. A bronze statue of Ignatius J. Reilly is on Canal Street in New Orleans. It has been adapted for the stage, including as a musical comedy, and has often been planned as a film. These various attempts to adapt it for the screen have come to nothing (often with the slated lead actor dying, and once with a studio head being murdered, not to mention Hurricane Katrina devastating New Orleans in 2005), leading to the belief there is a “curse” on it as a film project.

The novel’s title is a comment on how Rory and Lorelai see Jess and his girlfriend in this scene, as a pair of “dunces” who can barely hold a conversation together. However, it is also believable as a modern American classic that Jess might read, complete with a male protagonist who is an intelligent failure railing against the world, his fate, and modern life. This seems to be the sort of hero that Jess can relate to. Note that it’s also set in the American South – a literary setting which Rory is also drawn to, underlining how much they have in common.

The Empress Bobo Belle

RORY: Apparently, maturity is extremely overrated in your universe.

LORELAI: That’s right. The Empress Bobo Belle forbids it.

The Empress Bobo Belle is the fictional ruler of the universe, a character that Lorelai has invented and portrays as evidence of her immaturity.

Bobo is a common name for clowns, while Belle is the French word for “beauty”, possibly to suggest “clownish beauty” for the imaginary empress, and how Lorelai may see herself.

Soup for Breakfast

LUKE: It’s the third day in a row you’ve ordered soup for breakfast.

Because she has a cold, Lorelai has ordered chicken noodle soup and mashed potato for breakfast at the diner. Mashed potato is soft and easy to eat, even with a sore throat, while chicken noodle soup is well known as a home remedy for colds, clearing nasal congestion and providing nutrition and hydration at the same time. I have never heard of anyone eating them for breakfast though, even when ill, and I would have thought it wasn’t a good idea to go out to breakfast when you have a cold, spreading your germs in a place where people eat.

TheraFlu

LORELAI: I mean, I’d like to have a good illness, something different, impressive. Just once I’d like to be able to say, “Yeah, I’m not feeling so good, my leg is haunted.”

RORY: See, there’s a reason why you only take one packet of TheraFlu at a time.

TheraFlu is a cold and flu treatment consisting of flavoured packets of powder that you make into a hot drink – it’s basically pain relief, decongestants, antihistamines and so on all at once. There are several different types, and the ones for night time make you sleepy. Rory is suggesting that Lorelai put more than one packet into her cup at once, giving her extra doses of everything. It’s believable based on Lorelai’s past behaviour taking over the counter medications.

Lorelai’s wish for a more exotic illness, such as a “haunted leg” is where the episode’s title comes from.

Annie Oakley

LORELAI: Well, apparently this lovely girl came home to find her husband giving the nanny a nice little bonus package … The man was shot thirty-five times. He looks like a sprinkler system.

EMILY: I can’t believe this. Shauna was always such a nice girl. She was bright, cultured, well-spoken.

LORELAI: And apparently, a big Annie Oakley fan.

Annie Oakley, sharpshooter, previously discussed.

Emily manages to get in a nice little dig at Lorelai by remarking of Shauna, “At least she had a husband to kill”.

Braised Lamb Shank

RORY: Something smells good …. Oh, braised lamb shank! I love a lamb shank when it is braised.

Lamb shanks are the leg bone of the animal, between the knee and the shoulder, eaten whole. Braising means to brown the meat at a high temperature, then simmer it in a covered pot in liquid, such as tomatoes, stock, vinegar or wine, until the meat is tender and infused with flavour. Crock pots are a popular way to cook braised lamb shanks.

Apparently braised lamb shank is one of Rory’s favourite meals that she has at her grandparents’ place. Lamb seems to be one of their most commonly served dishes.

“Your father and I were shocked and upset”

EMILY: Your father and I were shocked and upset … You didn’t give us five minutes to digest the news … You simply dumped it on us and walked out. I hardly think that’s fair.

In fact, Lorelai attempted to give them the news about Christopher briefly and undramatically. Emily insisted on dragging all the details out of Lorelai so that she and Richard could attack her, then Richard went off in a sulk. You can’t really blame Lorelai for not sticking around for any more.

It is Emily who is not being fair at this point.

Jig

RORY: So, Grandma, Grandpa is traveling again, huh? … Business must be good … That’s great. Isn’t that great, Mom?

LORELAI: A jig is forthcoming.

A lively folk dance associated with Irish and Scottish music and dance, first popular in 16^th century Ireland and Britain, quickly adopted in Continental Europe.

“To do a jig”, means that the person is very happy – joyful enough to perform this bouncy dance.

Richard still needs to travel since starting his own insurance company, which is seeming less and less plausible. I’m starting to wonder if the travel thing was a complete scam right from the beginning.

The Pomeranian: An Owner’s Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet

This 1996 book by Happeth A. Jones is on the coffee table when Lorelai and Rory are talking. It is part of a series, and as its title suggests, is all about raising a happy, healthy Pomeranian dog.

The question is, why is Lorelai apparently reading it? Is she preparing to do some dog sitting for someone with a Pomeranian, or is she thinking of buying one, as she has been shown to be keen on getting a dog?

A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays

Rory is holding this book when Lorelai comes home and they discuss Rory’s relationship with Dean.

A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays is by Mary McCarthy, who Rory seems to be a fan of. It is a selection of her essays spanning her career from the late 1930s to the late 1970s, and includes her theatre reviews and political writings, so it is another of Rory’s books on journalism. It was edited by A.O. Scott, and published in 2002. Mary McCarthy, like Dorothy Parker – another of Rory’s favourites – was known for her bitingly witty and malicious reviews. Later, Rory will emulate these literary heroines with her own cruel review.