Satan vs Ignatius J. Reilly

Paradise Lost - John Milton
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Toole

   Dad and I read Paradise Lost little by little (neither one of us had read it before!) over the past few months, and last week I read Dunces hoping for a little laughter pick-me-up (it was funny but not as funny as I'd hoped). So who's better, Satan or Ignatius J. Reilly? (and what does that J. stand for? I can't remember if that ever comes up)
   Part of their greatness as characters is their lack of development. They are fixed, fixated, mostly fit to be tied. Satan is more entertaining, I think, because he is more aware of his deeper "problem." He knows, at least to some degree, that he can't win, that he's a character and someone else is the author. I couldn't tell if he was vacillating between hope and despair, or if his despair was more or less fundamental, and his hope was just a distraction, a diversion, or a mask to play his part. I guess he reminded me most of Iago, so aware of being addicted to antagonism.
   They have a lot in common, Ignatius and Satan. Both suffer constantly - more so mentally than physically; both have wild plans for taking over the world; their efforts at leadership backfire; they complain about people trying to control them. So on and so forth. Have either one of these been made a movie? Who could play Ignatius? John Goodman? Will Ferrel? Paradise Lost would be an awesome comic book. Somebody must have done that. Also I really enjoyed Milton's vocabulary, and Toole's dialect writing for the older white women. I couldn't really accept Toole's dialect for Jones, the main black character. Maybe some of what he was trying to do was specific to late 70's early 80's?

fast by
marl - rich, crumbly soil
nathless - nonetheless
hap, hapless, haply
grunsel - threshhold
sottish - stupid
swage - assuage
peerage - peeps
"a fame" - a rumor
scurf - crusty or scabby spot
paynim - pagan
lantskip - landscape
enow - plural of enough
welkin - sky
sable-vested Night, eldest of things
frore - frosty
dint - blow, stroke
maw - mouth
frith - firth, channel
universal hubbub wild
waft
hies - hastens
dun - dusky colored
gloze, glozed, glozing - falsely flattering
umpire
maugre - despite, in spite of
impurpled, inwreathed, embrowned, imbrute, enjoin, etc.
yeanling - newborn
wicket - small door in or beside a large one
limbec (alembic)
arch-chemic sun
clomb - past tense of climb
cote - shelter
rill - little stream
lap - hollow among hills
I ween - I believe
in that dark durance (forced confinement)
limitary - at limit or boundary
interdicted, intervolved
worthy of sacred silence to be heard
fable (as a verb)
displode their second tire - fire their second volley
drauth - thirst
fry ?little in size? young fishes? large numbers? (with fry innumerable swarm)
parsimonious emmet - thrifty ant
wake, waked, wakeful
fume (n.)
wide was the wound (when taking out rib from adam's side)
...thine and all thy sons/ the weal or woe in thee is placed; beware.
tilting furniture - jousting equipment
kine - plural of cow
spangle, glister
gan (past of gin; like begin, began, begun)
unweeting - unwitting
paragon (verb - to compare, rival, or surpass)
ravin - voracity, rapaciousness
sideral - of the stars, influenced by stars
tine - ignite
contumacy - stubborn rebelliousness, insolence
aslope glanced
peccant - sinful
ken - range of vision, sight, knowledge
inly
volant - flying
whelp (v)
bate - pause at an inn for refreshment
plainlier
pravity - corruption
evince - prove or show
puissant - powerful
ope - open
lucre
marish (n) - marsh
they hand in hand with wand'ring steps and slow