Reilly from "A Confederacy of Dunces, " whose disdain for all things contemporary highlights the virtues and vices of modern life.

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The second thing is: If you thought Chris and Ansel were a confederacy of dunces, get a load of Frank (Frank Hvam) and his friend Casper (Casper Christensen), the least great Danes ever whelped.

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Dunces yelp too much about budget deficits.

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At one of my daughter's schools, I always thought it unfair that those who were often most strenuously tutored weren't the dunces, as they were in my day, the ones who had trouble keeping up.

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Best known in this regard is the reaction of Ignatius Reilly in "Confederacy of Dunces, " who takes the Greyhound bus from New Orleans to Baton Rouge once and has such a horrific experience he will never repeat it, nor would anyone else reading the book unless forced by circumstances.

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