A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

Toole's lunatic and sage novel introduces one of the most memorable characters in American literature, Ignatius Reilly, whom Walker Percy dubs slob extraordinary, a mad Oliver Hardy, a fat Don Quixote, a perverse Thomas Aquinas rolled into one - who is in violent revolt against the entire modern age. Ignatius' ire explodes when his mother backs into an automobile. The owner of the damaged vehicle insists on payment; and Mrs. Reilly demands that her son stop watching television and writing in his Big Chief tablet and get a job.