The Neon Bible

The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole (1989 [written 1954]), 162 pp.

If you were to search for this book in Wikipedia, depending on exactly how you entered the title, you might end up at the disambiguation page. The Neon Bible is a book by John Kennedy Toole, written for a literary contest in 1954 by the then-16-year-old author and published posthumously for the first time in 1989; Neon Bible is a 2007 album by the kick-ass indie band Arcade Fire, as well as the title song from that album. The latter neither draws or borrows from or is based on the former—this is a great disappointment, because if it did that would raise both works to an unprecedented level of awesomeness. But as it is, the two are not related. I wanted to break that to you up front.

John Kennedy Toole has one of the more remarkable stories in recent literary history. Toole committed suicide in 1969 at the age of 31, leaving behind two manuscripts. Some years later, his mother Thelma, through a combination of chutzpah and probably no little bit of badgering, convinced writer Walker Percy to review Toole’s “masterpiece,” A Confederacy of Dunces; Percy aided in the publication of the novel, which subsequently earned the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. A Confederacy of Dunces is, in my opinion, one of the most imaginative and entertaining books ever written. If you haven't read this book, don’t even bother finding out what it’s about, just open another tab in your web browser there and order it off Amazon. Do it now.

In style, subject matter, and pretty much any other point of comparison I can think of, The Neon Bible is nothing like A Confederacy of Dunces. If I didn’t already know, I would never guess they were written by the same author. Confederacy is a raucous satire populated with many off-the-wall characters, each with his or her own distinct voice. The Neon Bible is an elegant and elegiac bildungsroman told in the simple but insightful voice of the teenage narrator, David. Set in a small Mississippi town in the 1940s, the book is about loss, small-town politics, the bonds of family, war, the hypocrisy of religion, the plight of the impoverished South, and the influence these factors have in shaping one boy’s life.

Most comparisons I’ve seen have likened this book either to the works of great mid-century Southern writers like Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor or to Harper Lee’s classic bildungsroman, To Kill a Mockingbird. These may be apt comparisons, but they aren’t the ones that first come to my mind. For me, The Neon Bible evokes the style of Hemingway—an understated simplicity that belies great psychological and emotional depth—and the characterization of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. Also a story (more properly a “story cycle,” or set of related vignettes) about a small town, Winesburg is famous for its singular and slightly sad cast of characters. The Neon Bible has its own memorable and sometimes desperate figures: David’s father, who attempts against all logic to farm the inhospitable Mississippi clay of his backyard; Aunt Mae, an aging lounge singer who longs for the success she never found in her youth; a traveling evangelist eerily reminiscent of Paul Dano’s character in the film version of There Will Be Blood; and the preacher, who tries to control popular opinion from the Op/Ed page of the local newspaper. Winesburg also ends—as The Neon Bible does—on a train headed out of town.

The Neon Bible is a beautiful little story. Those who have read A Confederacy of Dunces will definitely want to check out Toole’s incredible range—it’s a tragedy that we don’t have more from this author. Win Butler of Arcade Fire should also consider taking a read; a Neon Bible II would always be welcome.

PS - Just for fun, Arcade Fire fans click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjxef8AfVQg