Butterfly in the Typewriter

by Cory MacLauchlin

  and Toole’s mental illness

  and Toole’s submission

  and Toole’s suicide

  vilification of

  Gover, Robert

  Graham, Billy

  Great Depression

  Greco, Cyrus

  Gregory, Angela

  Griffin, Emilie

  Griffin, William

  Guerin, Pam

  Guibet, Doonie

  Gwyn, Jane Stickney

  Gwynn, Jane

  Hall, Martha

  Hantel, John

  Hardin, Michael

  Hardy, Deborah George

  Hardy, Oliver

  Hawthorne, Nathaniel

  Hearst Castle

  Heller, Joseph

  Hemingway, Ernest

  Hepburn, Audrey

  Herriman, George

  Hines, Joe

  Hippies

  Holditch, Kenneth

  Hollander, John

  Hoover, Herbert

  Horizon Magazine

  Hosli, Marion Toole

  Howard, Barbara Trader

  Howl (poem)

  The Hullabaloo (student newspaper)

  The Humanization of Eddie Cement (Deaux)

  Hunter College

  and Kerouac

  and Khrushchev

  and Toole

  and Wieler

  Hurricane Betsy

  Hurricane Camille

  Ignatius Rising: The Life of John Kennedy Toole (Nevils and Hardy)

  Jackson, Andrew

  Johnson, Lyndon

  Jollett, Ann

  Joyce, James

  Judaism

  Junior Variety Performers

  Kafka

  Kaplan, Fred

  Kefauver, Estes

  Ken and Thelma (Fletcher)

  Kennedy, Jacqueline

  Kennedy, John F.

  Kerouac, Jack

  Keyes, Frances Parkinson

  Khrushchev, Nikita

  “Kiddish” (poem)

  Kirkus Reviews

  KKK

  Korda, Michael

  Kramer, Scott

  Krazy Kat and Ignatz (comic)

  Kubach, David

  and A Confederacy of Dunces

  and Morter suicide attempt

  and Salinas

  and satire and humor

  and tonsillitis

  and Toole’s final journey and suicide

  and Toole’s life in army

  and Toole’s mental illness

  in Wisconsin

  La Madrid, Captain Gil de

  Lady Chatterly’s Lover

  Lafayette, Louisiana. See Toole, John Kennedy: at Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI)

  Lafitte, Jean

  Lafranz, Ruth

  Laird, Cary

  and Brynner

  engagement of

  and high school years with Toole

  and party in Lafayette

  and Toole’s alleged homosexuality

  and Toole’s final journey and suicide

  and trip to New York with Toole

  and typescript of Confederacy

  Laird, Lynda

  Lanterns on the Levee (Percy)

  Lask, Thomas

  Lee, Harper

  Leighton, H. Vernon

  Lennon, John

  Lewis, Jerry Lee

  Liebling, A. J.

  Long, Huey

  Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

  Longhair, Professor

  Loren, Sofia

  Lovecraft, H. P.

  Luft, Kerry

  Lumiansky, Robert

  Lyly, John

  Mabley, “Moms,”

  MacArthur, General Douglas

  Macbeth (play)

  Magnani, Anna

  Malcolm (Purdy)

  Mallord

  Mamalakis, Mario

  Manson, Charles

  Marquis, Don

  Marx, Harpo

  Mathews, Beulah

  Matson, Harold

  Matson, M. P.

  Miller, Mrs. Edgar Grim

  Mitchell, Margaret

  Mmahat, John

  Monroe, Marilyn

  Montagu, Ashley

  Montgomery, Elisabeth

  Moore, Anthony (Tony)

  Morgan, Elmore, Jr.

  Morrison, Toni

  Morter, Bill

  Morter, Bob

  Moviegoer (Percy)

  Nelson, Sydney

  Nelson, William

  The Neon Bible (Toole)

  and character, dialogue, and narrator

  and Faust

  and film

  and Grove

  and homosexuality

  inspiration for

  plot

  and publication

  and reviews

  and Toole family heirs

  and Toole’s mother

  and writing contest

  Nevils, René Pol

  New Orleans

  and alcohol

  and American heartland

  Battle of

  capturing essence of

  and culture

  dialect

  and “Disillusionment,”

  and ethnicity and race

  French Market

  French Quarter

  and graves and death

  and Hurricane Betsy

  and jazz

  and Mardi Gras

  and The Neon Bible

  Ninth Ward

  and people and characters

  prior history and at Toole’s birth

  renaissance of

  and rock and roll

  and Toole’s ancestors

  Uptown

  See also A Confederacy of Dunces (Toole): and New Orleans; Toole, John Kennedy: and New Orleans’ attraction and fascination; Toole, John Kennedy: return to New Orleans and life with parents

  New Orleans Review

  New York. See Toole, John Kennedy: and New York City’s attraction, fascination, and repellency

  “New York: Three Aspects” (poem)

  New York Journal American

  Newcomb College

  Newman Club (at Tulane)

  Nicolson, Marjorie

  Nietzsche

  Ninas, Paul

  Nixon, Richard

  Nolan, Paul

  Nuclear weapons

  O’Connel, Michael

  O’Connor, Flannery

  On the Road (Kerouac)

  One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding (Gover)

  Orfila, Mary

  Ortiz, Sergeant Jose

  Oswald, Lee Harvey

  Palumbo, Carmine

  Paris Review

  Parker, Robert

  People (magazine)

  Percy, Bunt

  Percy, Walter

  and A Confederacy of Dunces

  “knighting” of

  and silverware

  Percy, William Alexander

  Phillabaum, Les

  Plath, Sylvia

  Poe, Edgar Allan

  Polites, Nick

  and design and architecture

  and Faye

  and Fletcher

  and gay party and Toole’s alleged homosexuality

  and Hunter College

  meets Toole

  and Purdy

  and Thelma Toole’s tirades on Gottlieb

  and Toole’s ambivalence about New York

  and Toole’s desire to impress and arrogance

  and Toole’s impersonations and mimicking

  and Toole’s mental illness

  and Toole’s mother and father

  and Toole’s visit home from army

  and Waugh

  Pop, Iggy

  Powell, Charlotte

  Prescott, Dave

  Presley, Elvis

  Publisher’s Weekly

  Puerto Rico. See Toole, John Kennedy: in army in Puerto Rico

  Pulitzer, Joseph

  Pulitzer Prize. See A Confederacy of Dunces (Toole): and Pulitzer Prize

>   Purdy, James

  Rabelais

  Raymont, Henry

  Reader’s Digest

  Reilly, Irene

  Rickels, Milton

  accident of

  and The Conqueror Worm

  disability of

  and Toole’s final journey

  and Toole’s flirtations

  and Toole’s mental illness

  and Toole’s mimicking

  and wife

  Rickels, Patricia

  and Byrne

  and colleagues’ lectures

  and The Conqueror Worm

  and husband

  and husband’s accident

  and New Orleans Review

  and Purdy

  son Gordon of

  and Toole

  and Toole always being on stage

  and Toole’s alleged homosexuality

  and Toole’s cheapness

  and Toole’s desire to be in New York

  and Toole’s final journey

  and Toole’s mental illness

  and Toole’s mimicking

  and Toole’s “season of glory” at Southwestern Louisiana Institute

  and Toole’s storytelling

  and Toole’s suicide

  and Toole’s way with students

  Rodin

  Roosevelt, Franklin

  Rose, Charlie

  Ruby, Jack

  Rudnicki, Robert

  Salinger, J. D.

  San Francisco Review of Books

  Sansum, Cornelia

  Schneider, Nola

  Schnobel, Bob

  The Second Coming (Percy)

  Shakespeare

  Shields, David

  Shmuel (Tulane graduate student)

  Shneidman, Edwin

  Sims, Thomas

  Sinclair, Upton

  Sitwell, Dame Edith

  Smith, Marcus

  Snyder, Tom

  Solomon, Carl

  Southwestern Louisiana Institute. See Toole, John Kennedy: at Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI)

  Soviet Union

  Spencer, Edmund

  St. Mary’s Dominican College. See Toole, John Kennedy: at St. Mary’s Dominican College

  Stein, Gertrude

  The Subterraneans (Kerouac)

  Superworm (Deaux)

  Suthon, Marcia

  Swift, Jonathan

  Taliaferro, Kent

  Ted (Southwestern Louisiana Institute student)

  TeleKids (television show)

  The Ten Commandments (film)

  Tindall, William

  Tomorrow Show

  Toole, Harold, Jr.

  Toole, John Dewey, Jr. (father)

  background and work of

  and Columbia contribution

  and de Russy

  death of

  as “downtown” person in Uptown

  estate of

  and Kubach

  and marital problems

  mental illness of

  and money

  physical decline of

  and Polites visit

  and relationship with son

  and shingles

  and son at Southwestern Louisiana Institute

  and son in high school

  and son’s birth

  and son’s study of engineering at Tulane

  and son’s suicide

  Toole, John Kennedy

  and acting and theater

  and alcohol

  ancestors of

  in army in Puerto Rico

  arrogance and superciliousness of

  and automobiles

  and banter

  and Beats

  bigotry of

  birth of

  brilliance and intelligence of

  and British literature

  and character and dialogue

  at Columbia University

  comical energy of

  and comics and cartoons

  complexity of

  curiosity of

  and dancing

  “dark streak” in

  depression, remoteness, detachment, and distance of

  devotion to mother of

  and dialect

  drive to achieve greatness of

  and east coast trip (1954)

  and ego and insecurity

  and exaggeration

  and father’s mental illness

  and females in literature and life

  final journey of

  forms of name used by

  and frustrations and disappointments as writer

  and girls and women

  and Haspel Brothers job

  in high school

  and homosexuality

  humor and wit of

  at Hunter College (See Hunter College: and Toole)

  and impersonations and mimicking

  and Kennedy assassination

  in kindergarten and grade school

  and liberalism and political sensibilities

  and literary criticism

  literary influences on

  master’s thesis of

  mental illness of

  and Mississippi visit (1954)

  and money

  and Monroe

  and Morter suicide attempt

  and mother’s musical talents

  and mother’s stifling, dominance, protectiveness, and narcissism

  narrative voice in letters of

  nervous breakdown of

  and New Orleans’ attraction and fascination

  and New York City’s attraction, fascination, and repellency

  and observations of people

  as one hit wonder

  and other biographies

  Papers at Tulane of

  paranoia of

  and patriotism and government

  and philosophy and pragmatism

  poetry of

  and pranks

  relationship with father

  and religion

  return to New Orleans and life with parents

  and rock and roll

  and satire

  scholarship fund at Tulane

  sense of superiority of

  and sixteenth-century literature

  and “sketches,”

  at Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI)

  at St. Mary’s Dominican College

  and storytelling and narrative

  suicide of

  and teaching style and students

  and television

  at Tulane University

  turn toward becoming novelist of

  and University of Washington

  upbringing of

  and Waugh

  weight and physique of

  and women in society

  and Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship

  See also A Confederacy of Dunces (Toole); The Neon Bible (Toole)

  Toole, Thelma (mother)

  and abandoned biography and collection of academic papers of son

  anti-Semitism of

  background and work of

  and bedtime stories

  and Bianciardi

  and brother Arthur

  and Brynner tale

  and Christmas 1967

  and A Confederacy of Dunces

  coveting of relationship with son

  death of

  as “downtown” person in Uptown

  and fight with son (January 1969)

  and Foote

  and Guibet

  and Harvard

  and husband’s death

  and husband’s mental illness

  and husband’s relationship with son

  and husband’s shingles

  and Jean François Ducoing

  and Laird

  and letter writers, visitors, and gifts

  and marital problems

  and money

  and Monroe

  and Morter suicide attempt

  and move to Cambronne Street

  musical t
alents of

  and The Neon Bible

  and other biographies

  physical decline of

  and Polites visit and piano playing

  publicity, spotlight, and accolades for

  and relatives’ mental illnesses

  and religion

  and schools in New Orleans

  sense of superiority and delusions of grandeur of

  and son at Columbia

  and son at Tulane

  and son’s acting and theater

  and son’s birth

  and son’s brilliance, superiority, and greatness

  and son’s dating

  and son’s early childhood

  and son’s final journey

  and son’s memorabilia, relics, collection of books, papers, letters, etc.

  and son’s mental illness

  and son’s perceptiveness and observations

  and son’s poetry

  and son’s portrayal and legacy

  and son’s return to New Orleans

  and son’s sharing of writing attempts

  and son’s suicide

  and son’s weight and physique

  and son’s writing style

  superciliousness of

  and Toole family

  and World War II

  Traveling Theatre Troupers

  Tree of Liberty (novel)

  Treen, David

  Trilling, Diana

  Trilling, Lionel

  Troilus and Cressida

  Truman, Harry

  Tulane University. See Toole, John Kennedy: at Tulane University

  Ulysses (Joyce)

  Ussery, Huling

  Valley of the Dolls

  Van Doren, Mark

  Variety

  Vespa, Mary

  Vietnam

  Wagner, Dick

  Waugh, Evelyn

  as influence

  and Monroe

  racist remarks of

  Wechsler, James

  West, Mae

  Wieler, John

  Williams, Tennessee

  Wonk, Dalt

  Wordsworth, Dorothy

  World War II

  Yardley, Jonathan

  Young, Bob

  Zelden, Joel

  Ziegler, Lottie

  Copyright © 2012 by Cory MacLauchlin

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

  a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,

  mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written

  permission of the publisher.

  For information, address Da Capo Press, 44 Farnsworth Street,

  3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02210.

  Editorial production by Lori Hobkirk at the Book Factory.

  Designed in Garamond by Cynthia Young at Sagecraft.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  MacLauchlin, Cory.