Butterfly in the Typewriter (44 page)

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Authors: Cory MacLauchlin

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36 In this short novel . . . : John Kennedy Toole,
The Neon Bible
(New York: Grove Press, 1989).
36 While Toole never . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
36 His mother recalled . . . : Ibid.
36 Before coming to . . . : William Martin,
A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story
(New York: William Morrow and Company, 1991).
36 In Los Angeles . . . : “Billy Graham 1949 LA Crusade Newsreel,” accessed December 12, 2011, at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUDKehwFWjg
.
36 And several years . . . : Martin.
A Prophet with Honor
.
37 But mixed with . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
37 David, the narrator . . . : Toole,
The Neon Bible.
38 Kerry Luft, senior . . . : Blurb from cover of
The Neon Bible
.
38 She prided herself . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
38 When David explains . . . : Toole,
The Neon Bible.
38 She explained years later . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
39 He was elected . . . : Flora McIver and Rose Gerald, “Fortier Well Represented at Pelican State; Seven Boys, Three Girls Voted into Offices,”
Silver and Blue
, October 9, 1953: 2.
39 In October of . . . : “Achievement Scrap Book,” Box 22, Vol. 1, Toole Papers.
39 He took fifth . . . : “Chamber of Commerce News Bulletin,” May 28, 1954. Box 4, Folder 10, Toole Papers.
39 And on December . . . : “Fortier Tarps on Television,”
Silver and Blue
, December 22, 1953: 1.
39 A month later . . . : “Senior Spotlight,”
Silver and Blue
, January 29, 1954: 2.
39 He was one . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “Tarpons Receive Award; See Historic Shrines,”
Silver and Blue
, May 28, 1954: 3.
39 These students represented . . . : “24 Fortier Students Leave for Valley Forge Awards,”
New Orleans States Item,
May 8, 1954. There seems to be some confusion as to how many students went on this trip. The body of this article states the number of students was twenty. However, Toole lists the number as thirty-one in an article he wrote for
Silver and Blue
.
39 Boarding a train . . . : Toole, “Tarpons Receive Award; See Historic Shrines.”
39 They watched the . . . : Ibid.
39 At Valley Forge . . . : Ibid.
39 And like true . . . : Ibid.
40 In an article . . . : Ibid.
40 In a promotional . . . : “Scrapbook of N.Y.-Phil.-D.C. trip,” Box 1, Folder 18, Toole Papers.
40 Joel Zelden, a . . . : Janet Zeldon interview by the author, October 10, 2010.
40 Jane Pic Adams . . . : Adams interview by the author, November 2010.
40 His classmates voted . . . :
The Tarpon
(New Orleans: Alcee Fortier High School, 1954).
41 His mother claimed . . . : Wonk, “John Kennedy Toole's Odyssey Among the Dunces.”
41 Determined in his . . . : “Senior Spotlight,”
Silver and Blue,
January 29, 1954: 2.
41 As the university . . . : Clarence L. Mohr and Joseph E. Gordon,
Tulane: The Emergence of a Modern University, 1945–1980
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001).
41 They also came . . . : Ibid.
Chapter 4: Tulane
43 Before Toole started . . . : Wonk, “John Kennedy Toole's Odyssey Among the Dunces.”
43 He found a . . . : Ibid.
44 In his first . . . : John Mmahat interview by the author, December 7, 2010.
44 He submitted his . . . : Ibid.
44 More than fifty years . . . : Ibid.
44 Mmahat looked at . . . : Ibid.
44 One day after . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
44 In a 1984 . . . : Ibid.
44 On the back . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “Indecency in Chaucer,” Box 2, Folder 2, Toole Papers.
45 Toole sent him . . . : Alvin Foote letter to John Kennedy Toole, February 26, 1957. Box 1, Folder 13, Toole Papers.
45 We turn out . . . : Ibid.
46 I would enjoy . . . : Ibid.
46 Just as Ignatius . . . his mother tried to follow . . . : Film footage of the Levy Lecture Series.
47 Having declared his . . . : Stephen Andry postcard to John Kennedy Toole, August 24, 1955. “Scrapbook of N.Y.-Phil-D.C. trip,” Box 1, Folder 18, Toole Papers.
47 He plodded through . . . fair and mild weather . . . : “Weather,”
New York Times
, September 5, 1955: 1.
47 Almost every night . . . : Ibid.
47 Despite the long . . . : “Scrapbook of N.Y.-Phil-D.C. trip,” Box 1, Folder 18, Toole Papers.
47 In a snapshot . . . : Ibid.
48 Our government tells . . . : John Kennedy Toole, Toole exam by Dr. Ballard, March 12, 1955. Box 2, Folder 11, Toole Papers.
48 With no regular . . . : Byrne interview by Palumbo, 1995.
48 Even Bobby Byrne . . . : Ibid.
48 Fraternity brothers would . . . : Mmahat interview by the author., December 7, 2010.
49 In the fall . . . : “Delta Tau Delta,” in
Jambalaya
(New Orleans: Tulane University, 1956), 288.
49 In the caption . . . : Ibid.
49 In another photo . . . : News clippings. Box 10, Folder 10, Toole Papers.
49 And for the . . . : “Receipt from Delta Tau Delta,” Box 3, Folder 3, the Toole Papers.
49 In the fall . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “The Development of the Babbit-American,” Box 2, Folder 2, Toole Papers.
50 Boethius scholar and . . . : Byrne interview by Palumbo, 1995.
50 “Fortune and Nature” . . . : John Kennedy Toole, Final Exam Lumiansky, Box 2, Folder 11, Toole Papers.
50 “The wheel of” . . . : John Kennedy Toole, Box 2, Folder 2, the Toole Papers.
50
De Casibus Virorum
. . . : Toole,
A Confederacy of Dunces.
50 He owned a . . . : John Kennedy Toole personal library list, Box 5, Folder 5, Toole Papers.
51 Others, like Mortimer . . . : Mortimer J. Adler, “God and the Professors,” in
Pragmatism and American Culture
, by Gail Kennedy (Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1950), 67–76.
51 In another assignment he . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “The Development of the Babbit-American.”
51 A debate between . . . : Toole,
A Confederacy of Dunces.
52 This exploration culminated . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “Untitled: Puritanism and Hawthorne.” Box 2, Folder 2, Toole Papers.
52 He observes, “Man” . . . : Ibid.
52 Since he positions . . . : Ibid.
53 He owned a . . . : JKT personal library list.
53 A poet awakes . . . : Don Marquis,
Archy and Mehitabel
(New York: Doubleday, 1955).
53 Addressing Cold War . . . : John Kennedy Toole,
The Tulane Hullabaloo
, October 5, 1956.
54 Toole presented the . . . : John Kennedy Toole,
The Tulane Hullabaloo
, February 22, 1957.
54 In one comic . . . : John Kennedy Toole,
The Tulane Hullabaloo
, October 19, 1956.
54 In the background . . . : John Kennedy Toole,
The Tulane Hullabaloo
, November 9, 1956.
54 The next week . . . : John Kennedy Toole,
The Tulane Hullabaloo
, November 16, 1956.
54 Two weeks later . . . : John Kennedy Toole,
The Tulane Hullabaloo
, December 14, 1956.
54 As Mmahat recalls . . . : Mmahat interview by the author, December 7, 2010.
54 On the first . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “Portraits,” in
Carnival Magazine
, Vol 1, No. IX, 1956.
55 As he wrote . . . : Toole, “The Development of the Babbit-American.”
55 For example, Patrolman . . . : Toole,
A Confederacy of Dunces.
55 The real-life . . . : Ibid.
55 The 2002 Grove . . . : Toole,
A Confederacy of Dunces
.
56 He poses among . . . : “Glendy Burke,” in
Jambalaya
, 100 (New Orleans: Tulane, 1957).
56 In one of . . . : Nicholas Polites interview by the author, February 14, 2009.
56 Professor Richard Fogle . . . : Richard Fogle letter to Mary Dichmann, June 12, 1959, English Department Records, University Archives, University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
56 He socialized with . . . : David Prescott letter to John Kennedy Toole, October 25, 1958, Box 1, Folder 13, Toole Papers.
56 The professor complimented . . . : Fogle letter to Dichmann, June 12, 1959.
56 In his essay . . . : Toole, “Untitled: Puritanism and Hawthorne.” Box 2, Folder 2, Toole Papers.
57 In the essay . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “The Women in Lyly's Plays: An Honor's Essay,” Box 2, Folder 15, Toole Papers.
57 His mother deemed . . . : Wonk, “John Kennedy Toole's Odyssey Among the Dunces.”
58 She mused years . . . : Emilie Griffin, “Style and Zest: Remembering John Kennedy Toole,”
Image
, Fall 1999, accessed June 14, 2011, at
http://imagejournal.org/page/journal/articles/issue-24/griffin-confessions
.
58 On the winter . . . : Stickney Gwynn interview by the author, October 2010.
58 After the service . . . : Ibid.
58 And according to . . . : Wonk, “John Kennedy Toole's Odyssey Among the Dunces.”
58 Mmahat recalled the . . . : Mmahat interview by the author, December 7, 2010.
58 Eventually they started . . . : Wonk, “John Kennedy Toole's Odyssey Among the Dunces.”
58 They enjoyed sipping . . . : Ibid.
59 His friend Cary . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
59 And in 1958 . . . : Incidentally, Anthony Quinn was the director of
The Buccaneer
(1958). In 1981 Thelma Toole would meet Quinn in the green room of the
Tomorrow Show
in New York City.
59 On one of . . . : John Kennedy Toole, “Coleridge on Dramatic Illusion,” Box 2, Folder 2, Toole Papers.
59 He was inducted . . . : “Phi Beta Kappa,” Box 2, Folder 19, Toole Papers.
60 According to Thelma . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
60 In late March . . . : “Letter from Jaques Barzun,” March 14, 1958, Box 3, Folder 5, Toole Papers.
60 While his friend . . . : Martin interview by the author, May 5, 2011.
60 Although, unlike Ignatius . . . : “Payroll stub from Haspel Brothers,” Box 4, Folder 9, Toole Papers.
61 In several pictures . . . : “Adult Photos,” Box 5, Folder 14, Toole Papers.
Chapter 5: Columbia University
63 Originally named King's . . . :
A Brief History of Columbia
(New York: Columbia University, 2011), accessed June 10, 2010, at
http://www.columbia.edu/content/history.html
.
64 And during Toole's . . . :
The Graduate Student's Guide: 1958–1959
(New York: Columbia University, 1958).
64 The Woodrow Wilson . . . : Richard C. Boys (national director of Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) letter to John Kennedy Toole, April 1, 1958, Box 3, Folder 5, Toole Papers.
64 But according to . . . :
The Graduate Student's Guide: 1958–1959.
64 Most master of arts . . . : Ibid.
64 Put into perspective . . . : Ibid.
64 These funds would . . . : Ibid.
65 Out of the . . . : In May of 2010 the author visited 1008 Furnald Hall and confirmed the same view over Broadway of a snapshot in the Toole Papers. “Adult Photos,” Box 5, Folder 14, Toole Papers.
66 Over the next . . . : “Grades at Columbia,” Box 3, Folder 6, Toole Papers.
66 He enrolled in . . . : Sydney Poger interview by the author, October 21, 2010.
66 But never a . . . : Ibid.
66 Students affectionately called . . . : Robert Parker interview by the author, September 29, 2010.
66 Robert Parker, who . . . : Ibid.
66 He maintained that . . . : Poger interview by the author, October 21, 2010.
66 Tindall encouraged students . . . : Ibid.
67 By far the . . . : Wieler letter to Dichmann, June 10, 1959.
67 By 1959 he . . . : Ibid.
67 The English department . . . :
The Graduate Student's Guide: 1958–1959.
67 Many graduate students . . . : Poger interview by the author, October 21, 2010.
67 There is no . . . :
The Graduate Student's Guide: 1958–1959.
68 “If it should happen” . . . : Ibid.
68 Another graduate student . . . : Robert Bozanich letter to author, September 8, 2010.
68 Thelma Toole referred . . . :
I Walk in the World for My Son
, film.
68 The clear sense . . . : Poger interview by the author, October 21, 2010.
68 And the “huge” . . . : Bozanich letter to author, September 8, 2010
68 As Dalt Wonk . . . : Wonk, “John Kennedy Toole's Odyssey Among the Dunces.”
69 Within the first . . . : David Prescott letter to John Kennedy Toole, October 25, 1958, Box 1, Folder 13, Toole Papers.
69 Prescott responded . . . : Ibid.
69 In a four-page . . . : Ibid.
69 In Toole's novel . . . : Toole,
A Confederacy of Dunces.
69 The screenplay, as . . . : Ibid.
70 Snapshots from this . . . : “Adult Photos,” Box 5, Folder 14, Toole Papers. While the location is not identified on the photos, the author confirmed the location where these pictures were taken by using the architectural sights of the Marblehead Lighthouse and Kresge Auditorium.
70 He was the . . . : Byrne interview by Palumbo, 1995. Byrne coined the phrase “theology and geometry are all wrong” from a line in one of H. P. Lovecraft's stories.

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