A Confederacy of Dunces Allusions and Cultural References

Literary, Philosophical, Artistic, and Musical References

• Peter Abelard (2.2) 
• Joseph Addison (11.102)
• Charles A. Beard (5.187) 
• Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (first mention: 2.6) 
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning (3.237)
• John Calvin (5.189)
• Cassandra (2.6) 
• Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Tale" (14.53)
• G.K. Chesterton (11.108)
• Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (5.179)
• Divine Right of Kings (first mention: 7.300) 
• The Enlightenment (first mention: 2.4) 
• Fairy Godmother (10.22)
• Fortuna (first mention: 1.2)—The Wheel of Fortune, or luck, and a central concept in Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy.
• French Symbolists (9.80)
• Sigmund Freud (first mention: 3.233)
• The Great Chain of Being (2.4)—The belief that all matter and life are ordered in a hierarchy by God; often used to justify the rule of Kings.
• Edvard Grieg, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" (14.28)
• Ernest Hemingway (8.4)
• Sherlock Holmes (first mention: 11.321)
• Hroswitha (first mention: 2.169) \
• Fanny Hurst (8.4)
• Seymour Krim (7.297)
• William Langland, Piers Plowman (2.4) 
• Thomas Babington Macaulay, Essays (5.174)
• Machiavelli (first mention: 9.203)
• Norman Mailer (7.297)
• Medusa (3.187)
• Arthur Miller (4.179)
• John Milton (first mention: 4.197)
• John Milton, Areopagitica (9.188)
• Moses (5.178)
• Oedipus (first mention: 7.298)
• Scarlet O'Hara (first mention: 3.184) 
• Pandora's Box (5.161)
• Vernon Louis Parrington (5.187)—A progressive historian.
• Plato (4.191)
• Marcel Proust (2.183) 
• Domenico Scarlatti (first mention: 7.13)—A classical composer of the 1700s.
• Friedrich Schiller (2.185)
• William Shakespeare, King Lear (5.304)
• Sistine Chapel (10.78)
• Sodom and Gomorrah (9.39) 
• Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (first mention: 5.177)\
• Svengali (3.22)—An evil hypnotist in the novel Trilby by George du Maurier. 
• Mark Twain (first mention: 2.185)
• Trinity (2.2)—In Catholicism, the three-part Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
• Johannes Vermeer, Girl With a Pearl Earring (12.85)—A famous painting; Dorian deliberately misnames it as "Girl With a Golden Earring."
• Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey (first mention: 10.219) 
• Grant Wood (12.81)
• Xanadu (4.134)

Historical and Not-So-Historical References

• American Legion (1.148) 
• Aetna Life Insurance (2.254)
• King Alfonso (5.51) 
• Angola (1.162) 
• St. Anthony (5.51) 
• King Arthur (5.304)
• Avon Products (11.168)
• Thomas Beckett (2.2) 
• Big Chief Tablet (first mention: 2.1) 
• Bourbon Street (first mention: 1.37) Cabildo (10.233)
• St. Cassian of Imola (5.305)
• Winston Churchill (7.53)
• Clearasil (2.114) 
• Communists (first mention: 1.66)—Communists believe that working people should control factories and productive goods. In 1963, when Confederacy was written, the U.S. was in a rivalry called the Cold War with Communist Russia, and anti-Communist sentiment was high.
• Thomas Edison (9.191)
• French Quarter (first mention: 1.81) 
• Henry Ford (4.158; 9.191)
• Billy Graham (7.60)
• Great Depression (13.120)
• Greenwich Village (first mention: 1.235)—A neighborhood in New York famous for its artistic and gay communities.
• Guggenheim Foundation (11.247)
• Patrick Henry (6.197)
• Herbert Hoover (13.120)
• Infant Jesus of Prague (8.84) 
• St. James of Less (10.61)
• Joan of Arc (10.119)
• Father James Keller (7.60)
• John F. Kennedy (10.60)
• Rose Kennedy (10.60)
• Kiwanis (5.48) 
• Ku Klux Klan (first mention: 6.197)
• Jean Lafitte (first mention: 10.92)—A 19th century French pirate.
• Robert E. Lee (11.341)
• Life Magazine (first mention: 2.254)
• Luftwaffe (7.53) 
• Mardi Gras (first mention: 10.172)
• St. Martin de Porres (5.201)
• St. Mathurin (9.196)
• Mau Mau (9.81) 
• Joseph McCarthy (9.62; 13.184) 
• St. Medericus (9.196)
• Methuselah (9.195)
• Nazis (first mention: 1.298) 
• Florence Nightingale (8.26)
• Hannah Nixon (10.60)
• Richard Nixon (10.60)
• Ivan Pavlov (5.183)
• Marco Polo (9.50)
• Reformation (2.6) 
• John D. Rockefeller (9.191)
• Eleanor Roosevelt (10.182)
• Franklin Roosevelt (10.60)
• Sara Roosevelt (10.60)
• Scotland Yard (11.221)
• Al Smith (2nd epigraph)
• Smithsonian Institution (5.177)
• Soho (9.190)
• Sports Illustrated (8.15)
• Third Reich (13.40)
• Tokyo Rose (11.332)—Female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda during World War II.
• Tories (6.197)—The Loyalist party during the American Revolution.
• Harry Truman (10.60)
• Volunteers of America (1.131)
• Woolworth (first mention: 1.164)—An American five-and-dime store.
• St. Zita (9.197)

Pop Culture References

• Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (10.92)
• Batman (10.61, 10.213)
• Broadway (14.80)
• Gary Cooper (13.261) 
• Chicago Bears (2.76)
• Perry Como (first mention: 4.136)\
• Doris Day (first mention: 2.6) 
• Daytona 500 (4.178)
• Kentucky Derby (first mention: 3.80) 
• Walt Disney (14.108)
• Fats Domino (8.277)
• Marie Dressler (10.92) 
• Clark Gable (4.94)
• Judy Garland (12.129)
• Gold Diggers film series (3.194)
• Green Bay Packers (2.76)
• Gypsy (12.202) 
• Jean Harlow (4.94)
• Lena Horne (first mention: 12.181)
• Ruby Keeler (10.174)
• Fritz Lang (5.177)
• Charles Laughton (10.99) 
• Mary Marvel (10.107) — A comic-book character.
• Jeanette MacDonald (12.167)
• Ethel Merman (12.202)
• Metropolis (5.177)
• Mickey Mouse (first mention: 7.2)
• George Pal (14.108)
• Red Dust (4.94) 
• Debbie Reynolds (first mention: 11.1)
• "Stranger in Paradise" 
• Superman (13.170)
• Shirley Temple (2.114)
• "Turkey in the Straw" (first mention: 7.14)—An American folk song from the 1900s, first popularized by blackface performers.
• The Twilight Zone (10.26) 
• Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, "Big Girls Don't Cry" (first mention: 2.61) 
• Lawrence Welk (8.19)
• World Series (4.178)
• Jane Wyman (11.9)— The film they are referring to with the famous rape scene is the 1949 movie Johnny Belinda.
• Yogi Bear (first mention: 9.72)
• Zorro (5.308)