The picaresque novel it was a literary subgenre of prose narrative that laid the foundations for the modern novel. Although it was initially “spontaneous” in Spain, it had great popularity among the people of that country. Its scope was such that it quickly ended up being imitated in other countries of the continent..
He became very popular for the new and fresh style with which he approached the social, political and religious problems that were emerging in Spain that was passing from the Renaissance to the Baroque period. For some of its contents, it quickly began to be censored by the upper classes and royalty, but without success..
Its importance and popularity ended up making writers, of greater or lesser fame, imitate its style, themes and denunciations. The picaresque novel showed, by way of denunciation if you will, the state of society or the prevailing moral system at the time.
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The picaresque novel arose "spontaneously". This is asserted since there is no certain knowledge about the author of what is said to be the first work of this style. Said novel was Life of Lázaro de Tormes, of his fortunes and adversities (1554).
The Lazarillo de Tormes It was published simultaneously in 3 different cities: Burgos, Alcalá de Henares and Antwerp, without a specified author. It was suspected, not without reason, that 1554 was not the date of the novel's creation, but rather that there was an earlier manuscript or edition.
The exact date of the predecessor writing is not known, but it allowed that it could later be published at the same time in the other 3 cities.
The picaresque novel appeared in the full transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque in Spain. This period of change had, in Spanish literature, its own name, due to the importance of the works written then.
Of course, there is talk of the Spanish Golden Age. It was named for the rise of authors and the monumentality of the works written then, with Cervantes and the Quixote at the top of that list.
There were already 3 narrative currents or genres of the novel in Spain at that time: the chivalric novel, the sentimental novel and the pastoral novel, a direct inheritance from the Renaissance.
There were also new problems arising in the new times that Spain was going through at the beginning of the Baroque period, or at least they were beginning to become more and more notorious. These problems served as a source of inspiration for the writers of picaresque novels..
Those problems were: the increase in corruption in the judicial system, the decline of royalty and aristocracy, the religious of false faith, the ruined noblemen (of whom Cervantes used to create his Quixote) and outcast converts. In short, miserable men opposed to the distant upper classes, who knew nothing about these characters.
Obviously that reflection of society and that social satire gave it a very real touch and, therefore, direct to the picaresque novel. That made The guide of Tormes spread easily in Spain (among those who could read, of course). However, he found a barrier between the characters he criticized: royalty.
In 1559, King Philip II ordered that The guide of Tormes was edited expunging all mentions to royalty and the court. That is, the monarch asked to censor the work, that's how popular it was already. Although his fame came to him for the novelty, because deep down the readers of The guide they did not want to see themselves reflected in that "antihero".
However, contrary to what Felipe would have liked, the censorship did not stop the emergence of this new style. In fact, the imitations and continuations did not take long to arrive and, in itself, the picaresque novel aimed, without knowing it, to provide the basis for it to be possible. The Quijote.
Thus, continuations of the adventures of Lazarus came to be written (even in the twentieth century, as is the New adventures and misadventures of Lázaro de Tormes, written in 1944 by Camilo José Cela), or even new ones, adapting the style or imitating it.
Authors such as Mateo Alemán, Francisco de Quevedo, Jerónimo Alcalá, Alonso Castillo Solórzano, Luis Vélez de Guevara and Francisco Santos, in Spain, continued the legacy of the The Lazarillo.
His works, which will be mentioned later, had an impact on the society that received them, allowing recreation and reflection for its inhabitants..
Even the genre transcended the borders of the Spanish language. The picaresque novel ended up being imitated by different European authors. Such is the case of Daniel Defoe, Grimmelshausen, Alain René Lesage and Mikhail Chulkov.
Among the characteristics of the picaresque novel we can list the following:
It is narrated in the first person, where the character and the author are one and the same. As a rogue, the character narrates his adventures in the past, already knowing how each of his adventures will end.
The main character or rogue is an antihero. He is from the lower class, the son of marginalized or even criminals. It is a more faithful reflection of Spanish society than the chivalric or pastoral ideal of love present in other styles..
The rogue is always a lazy person with no occupation, a rogue who lives off mischief without any warning..
The structure of the novel is open. The rogue continues to have adventures indefinitely (which allowed adventures written by other authors to be added to the original story). The novel presents the possibility of being "infinite".
The character is linear. It never evolves or changes. That is why he can always face feats of different or similar tone, because he will always come out the same from all of them, without any learning that makes him evolve as a character.
Although he never has an apprenticeship, the rogue yearns to change his fortune and social status, but always fails in his attempts.
It is influenced to some extent by religious oratory, which criticized certain behaviors using examples. Thus, the rogue is equally punished, only that the rogue does not lecture, although through his reading others can do so..
The rogue is a disbeliever. He attends with disappointment the events that are touching him in luck. The majesty or importance of the characters or situations that are presented to him are of little value to him, because they are shown to be diminished (corrupt judges, unfaithful clergymen, among others) and thus, he criticizes them, showing their imperfections.
By presenting the characteristic characters of corrupt society, the mischievous novel moves away from the idealism of chivalric, sentimental and pastoral novels, and approaches a certain realism, since through mockery or satire we are shown the aspects nasty and corrupt society.
The rogue has no noble origin, ever. Just as it also happens that, throughout the novel, the rogue serves different masters, thus showing different layers of society.
As has been seen, the picaresque novel has not only versions of his first work, but also has authors and works in different languages and times. For this reason we will start with a refined list of Spanish picaresque novels according to the canon. These are:
- The life of Lazarillo de Tormes and his fortunes and adversities (1554), anonymous.
- Guzman de Alfarache (1599 and 1604), Mateo Alemán.
- Second part of the Guzmán de Alfarache (apocryphal, 1603), Juan Martí.
- The life of the Buscón (1604-1620), published in 1626, Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas.
- The Guitón Honofre (1604), Gregorio González.
- Mischievous Justina's entertainment book (1605), Francisco López de Úbeda.
- Celestina's daughter (1612), Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo.
- The resourceful Elena (1614), Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo.
- The shrewd Estacio Y The subtle Cordoba Pedro de Urdemalas (1620), Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo.
- Relationships in the life of the squire Marcos de Obregón (1618), Vicente Espinel.
- The inordinate greed of the goods of others (1619), Carlos García.
- Second part of the life of Lazarillo de Tormes, taken from the ancient coroners of Toledo (1620), Juan de Luna.
- Lazarillo de Manzanares, with five other novels (1620), Juan Cortés de Tolosa.
- Alonso, waiter of many masters o The talkative donor (1624 and 1626), Jerónimo de Alcalá.
- Harpies of Madrid and scam cars (1631), Alonso Castillo Solórzano.
- The girl of lies, Teresa del Manzanares, a native of Madrid (1632), Alonso Castillo Solórzano.
- Adventures of Bachelor Trapaza, quintessential liars and master of charmers (1637), Alonso Castillo Solórzano.
- The marten of Seville and hook of the bags (1642), Alonso Castillo Solórzano.
- Life of Don Gregorio Guadaña (1644), Antonio Enríquez Gómez.
- The life and events of Estebanillo González, a man of good humor, composed by himself (1646), attributed to Gabriel de la Vega.
- Third part of Guzmán de Alfarache (1650), Félix Machado de Silva y Castro.
- Parakeet the one with the chicken coops (1668), Francisco Santos.
The other works in Spanish literature that partially imitate or license the rogue character are:
- Rinconete and Cortadillo (1613) by Miguel de Cervantes.
- The Cojuelo Devil (1641) by Luis Vélez de Guevara.
- The entertaining journey (1603) by Agustín de Rojas Villandrando,
- The various fortune of the soldier Pindar (1626) by Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses.
- The harpies of Madrid and the scam car (1631), The girl of lies, Teresa de Manzanares; Adventures of Bachelor Trapaza (and its continuation), The marten of Seville and hook of the bags (1642) by Alonso de Castillo Solórzano.
- Better view cravings (1620) by Rodrigo Fernández de Ribera.
- The punishment of misery (S. f.) Of María de Zayas y Sotomayor;
- Notices and Guidance for Outsiders Coming to Court (1620) by Antonio Liñán y Verdugo and The holiday in the afternoon (S. f.) By Juan de Zabaleta. Both very close to the traditional narrative.
- Lifetime (S. f.) By Diego de Torres y Villarroel, a novel that is more autobiographical than picaresque, but which has certain picaresque touches in its paragraphs.
- The rogue of Spain, lord of Gran Canaria (1763) by José de Cañizares.
- The Sarniento periquillo (1816) by José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, a Latin American version of the novel of Spanish mischief.
- The guide of blind walkers from Buenos Aires to Lima (1773) by Concolorcorvo, pseudonym of Alonso Carrió de la Vandera, Latin American also.
- New adventures and misadventures of Lázaro de Tormes (1944) by Camilo José Cela, a modern pastiche that continues the original novel.
- Peralvillo de Omaña (1921) by David Rubio Calzada.
The courtly novels in which there are picaresque overtones are also worth mentioning, or even other great works by authors outside of Spain that show some influence of the Spanish picaresque novel. Some examples are:
- Life of Jack Wilton (1594) by English author Thomas Nashe.
- The comic novel (1651-57) by French writer Paul Scarron.
- True Story of Isaac Winkelfelder and Jobst von der Schneid (1617) by the German author Nikolaus Ulenhart.
- Brabant Spanish (1617) by the Dutch writer Gerbrand Bredero.
- Fortunes and adversities of the famous Moll Flanders (1722) by English author Daniel Defoe.
- The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), Peregrine Pickle (1751) by English author Tobias Smollett.
- Fanny hill (1748), by the English writer John Cleland. This work also mixes the picaresque with an erotic tone.
- The life and opinions of the gentleman Tristram Shandy (1759 - 1767) by Irish author Laurence Stern.
- The adventurer Simplicíssimus (1669) by the German writer Hans Grimmelshausen. This work is based on the popular character of the German tradition Till Eulenspiegel.
- Gulliver's Travels (1726) by English author Jonathan Swift.
There are also authors from later centuries who show a certain trace of the style of the picaresque novel in their work. And it is that, the picaresque novel is, deep down, the basis of the modern novel. These authors include:
- Oliver twist (1838) by the Englishman Charles Dickens.
- The luck of Barry Lyndon (1844) by the Englishman William Thackeray.
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by American Mark Twain.
- Confessions of the scammer Felix Krull (1954) by the German Thomas Mann, a novel that he left unfinished.
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