The picaresque novel (Spanish: "picaresca", from "pícaro", for "rogue" or "rascal") is a popular subgenre of prose fiction which is usually satirical and depicts in realistic and often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society. This style of novel originated in Spain and flourished in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries and continues to influence modern literature. Fiction (from the Latin fingere, to form, create) is storytelling of imagined events and stands in contrast to non-fiction, which makes factual claims that can be substantiated with evidence. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Realism in the visual arts and literature is the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation. ... Look up adventure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Heroine (female hero) redirects here. ... Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...

History

The genre has classical precedent in the Sanskrit legend Baital Pachisi, in Petronius's fragmentary "Satyricon", and in Apuleius's "The Golden Ass". While elements of Chaucer and Boccaccio have a picaresque feel, the modern picaresque begins with Lazarillo de Tormes, published anonymously in Antwerp and Spain in 1554 and variously considered either the first picaresque novel or at least an antecedent to the genre. The title character Lazarillo is a pícaro who must live by his wits in an impoverished country full of hypocrisy. The autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, written in Florence beginning in 1558, also has much in common with the picaresque. The first unquestioned picaresque novel was published in 1599: Mateo Alemán's Guzmán de Alfarache, characterized by religiosity. Francisco de Quevedo's El buscón (1604 according to Francisco Rico; the exact date is uncertain, yet it was certainly a very early work) is considered the masterpiece of the subgenre by A.A. Parker, because of his baroque style and the study of the delinquent psychology. A more recent school of thought, however, led by Francisco Rico rejects Parker's view, contending instead that the protagonist, Pablos, is a highly unrealistic character, simply a means for Quevedo to launch classist, racist and sexist attacks. Moreover, argues Rico, the structure of the novel is radically different from previous works of the picaresque genre: Quevedo uses the conventions of the picaresque as a mere vehicle to show off his abilities with conceit and rhetoric, rather than to construct a satirical critique of Spanish Golden Age society. The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is an old Indo-Aryan language from the Indian Subcontinent, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India[1], a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Baital Pachisi or Vetala Panchvimshati (Twenty five tales of Baital) is a legend from India. ... Petronius (c. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Lucius Apuleius (c. ... The Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, which according to St. ... Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902 Chanticleer the rooster from an outdoor production of Chanticleer and the Fox at Ashby_de_la_Zouch castle Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. ... Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (June 16, 1313 – December 21, 1375) was an Italian author and poet, a friend and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including On Famous Women, the Decameron and his poetry in the vernacular. ... Title page of the 1554 edition The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes and of His Fortunes and Adversities is a Spanish novel, published anonymously, 1554, in Alcalá de Henares in Spain, and, in 1557, in Antwerp, Flanders, then under Spanish rule. ... For other uses, see Antwerp (disambiguation). ... Events January 5 - Great fire in Eindhoven, Netherlands. ... Gold Salt cellar by Cellini Benvenuto Cellini (November 3, 1500 – February 13, 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, painter, sculptor, soldier and musician of the Renaissance. ... Florence (Italian: ) is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, Italy. ... Events January 7 - French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of England July 13 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines. ... Year 1599 was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Mateo Alemán Mateo Alemán y de Enero (Seville, Spain, 1547 - Mexico, ¿1615?), Spanish novelist and man of letters. ... Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Villegas (September 17, 1580 – September 8, 1645) was a Spanish writer during the . ... Events January 14 – Hampton Court conference with James I of England, the Anglican bishops and representatives of Puritans September 20 – Capture of Ostend by Spanish forces under Ambrosio Spinola after a three year siege. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ... The royal monastery El Escorial, built by Philip II The Spanish Golden Age (in Spanish, Siglo de Oro) was a period of flourishing in arts and letters in the Spanish Empire (now Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America), coinciding with the political decline and fall of the...

In other European countries, these Spanish novels were read and imitated. In Germany, Grimmelshausen wrote Simplicius Simplicissimus (1669), the most important of non-Spanish picaresque novels. It describes the devastation caused by the Thirty Years' War. In France, this kind of novel declined into an aristocratic adventure: Le Sage's Gil Blas (1715). In England, the body of Tobias Smollett's work, and Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders (1722) are considered picaresque, but they lack the sense of religious redemption of delinquency that was very important in Spanish and German novels. The triumph of Moll Flanders is more economic than moral. ... // Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Alain-René Lesage (May 8, 1668 – November 17, 1747) was a French novelist and playwright born at Sarzeau, Brittany. ... Lesage Alain-René Lesage (May 8, 1668, Sarzeau – November 17, 1747, Boulogne), also spelled Le Sage was a French novelist and playwright born at Sarzeau, in the peninsula of Rhuys, between the Morbihan and the sea, Brittany. ... // Events July 24 - Spanish treasure fleet of ten ships under admiral Ubilla leave Havana, Cuba for Spain. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... Tobias Smollett Tobias George Smollett (March 19, 1721 - September 17, 1771) was a Scottish author, best known for his picaresque novels, such as Roderick Random and Peregrine Pickle. ... Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (1660 [?] â€“ April 1731) was an English writer, journalist and spy, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. ... The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders is a 1722 novel by Daniel Defoe. ... // Events Abraham De Moivre states De Moivres theorem connecting trigonometric functions and complex numbers Publication of the first book of Bachs Well-Tempered Clavier Fall of Persias Safavid dynasty during a bloody revolt of the Afghani people. ...

Influence on modern fiction

In the English-speaking world, the term "picaresque" has referred more to a literary technique or model than to the precise genre that the Spanish call picaresco. The English-language term can simply refer to an episodic recounting of the adventures of an anti-hero on the road. Henry Fielding proved his mastery of the form in Joseph Andrews (1742), The Life of Jonathan Wild the Great (1743) and The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), but, as Fielding himself wrote, these novels were written in imitation of the manner of Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, not in imitation of the picaresque novel. Cervantes himself wrote a short picaresque novel, Rinconete y Cortadillo part of his Novelas Ejemplares (Exemplary Novels). J.B. Priestley made excellent use of the form in his enormously successful The Good Companions,(1929) and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A literary technique or literary device may be used in works of literature in order to produce a specific effect on the reader. ... In literature and film, an anti-hero is a central or supporting character that has some of the personality flaws and ultimate fortune traditionally assigned to villains but nonetheless also have enough heroic qualities or intentions to gain the sympathy of readers or viewers. ... Henry Fielding (April 22, 1707 – October 8, 1754) was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humor and satirical prowess and as the author of the novel Tom Jones. ... Joseph Andrews is a novel by Henry Fielding, first published in 1742. ... // Events January 24 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor. ... // Events February 14 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister February 21 - - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handels oratorio, Samson. ... The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (often known simply as Tom Jones) is a comic novel by Henry Fielding. ... Events While in debtors prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). ... Cervantes can refer to: Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, 16th-century man of letters Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, a municipality in the Philippines Cervantes, a town in Western Australia Cervantes de Leon, a character in the Soul Calibur series of fighting games This is a... (IPA: , but see spelling and pronunciation below), fully titled (The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha) is an early novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ... John Boynton Priestley (September 13, 1894, Bradford, England - August 14, 1984, Stratford-upon-Avon) was a British writer and broadcaster. ...

Other novels with elements of the picaresque include the French Candide, the Canadian Solomon Gursky Was Here and the English The Luck of Barry Lyndon. Candide, ou lOptimisme, (Candide, or Optimism) (1759) is a picaresque novel by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. ... Solomon Gursky Was Here is a novel by Canadian author Mordecai Richler first published Viking Canada in 1989. ... The Luck of Barry Lyndon is a picaresque novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1844 about an Irish peasant who tries to become a gentleman. ...

Some modern novelists have used some picaresque techniques, as Gogol in Dead Souls (1842-52). Rudyard Kipling's Kim (1901) combined the influence of the picaresque novel with the then new spy novel. Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Svejk (1923?) was the first example of the picaresque technique in Central Europe. Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was consciously written as a picaresque novel, as were many other novels of vagabond life, such as Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957) and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March is a picaresque novel with bildungsroman traits. Hunter S. Thompson's "gonzo journalism" can be seen as a hybrid of fictional picaresque with memoir and traditional reportage. The picaresque elements are especially prominent in Thompson's less journalistic, more literary and psychotopically themed works, such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Great Shark Hunt. A rather darker use of picaresque tradition can be found in Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird (1965). Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol (Russian: Николай Васильевич Гоголь) (March 31, 1809 - March 4, 1852) was a Ukrainian-born Russian writer. ... For other uses, see Dead Souls (disambiguation). ... This article is about the British author. ... Kim is a spy novel and picaresque novel, written by Rudyard Kipling and first published in 1901. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The spy fiction genre (sometimes called political thriller) first arose just before the First World War, at about the same time, the first organized intelligence agencies were being formed. ... Jaroslav HaÅ¡ek Jaroslav HaÅ¡ek (IPA: ) (April 30, 1883 in Prague – January 3 , 1923 in Lipnice nad Sázavou ) was a Czech humorist and satirist who became well-known mainly for his world-famous novel The Good Soldier Å vejk, an unfinished collection of farcical incidents about a soldier in... Fritz Muliar as Schwejk (1972) The Good Soldier Švejk (spelled Schweik or Schwejk in many translations, and pronounced /ʃvɛjk/) is the shortened title of the world-famous unfinished novel written by Czech humorist Jaroslav Hašek in 1921-22. ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Central Europe The Alpine Countries and the Visegrád Group (Political map, 2004) Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, writer, and lecturer. ... Huckleberry Finn and Jim Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) is commonly accounted as the first Great American Novel. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the novel On the Road. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Henry Miller photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1940 Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American writer and, to a lesser extent, painter. ... Tropic of Cancer is a novel by Henry Miller, first published in 1934 by Obelisk Press in Paris and still in print (Grove Press 1987 paperback: ISBN 0-8021-3178-6). ... Bellow as depicted in his Nobel diploma. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... A bildungsroman (IPA: /, German: novel of education or novel of formation) is a novel which traces the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character from (usually) childhood to maturity. ... Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author. ... Hunter S. Thompsons famous Gonzo logo. ... The hard cover version of the book. ... Jerzy Kosiński. ... The Painted Bird is a controversial novel by Jerzy Kosinski in which the world is described through the eyes of a young, black haired, black eyed boy who finds himself lost in small towns scattered around Eastern Europe (presumably Poland or Bellorussia) during World War II. The book has been... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ...

Sergio Leone identified his Spaghetti Westerns, more specifically his Dollars trilogy, as being in the picaresque style. Sergio Leone (January 3, 1929 – April 30, 1989) was an Italian film director who is considered by many to be on the short list of the greatest film directors of all time. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Recent examples are Camilo José Cela's La familia de Pascual Duarte (1951), Günter Grass's The Tin Drum (1959), Robert Clark Young's One of the Guys (1999), Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) Helen Zahavi's Dirty Weekend (1991), and Stewart Home's Cunt (1999). Sarah Waters recreated the classic picaresque in Tipping the Velvet (1998), following the life of a young Victorian lesbian through highs and lows of society and personal degradation. Spanish writer Camilo José Cela Don Camilo José Cela Trulock, Marquis of Iria Flavia (es: Don Camilo José Cela Trulock, marqués de Iria Flavia) (May 11, 1916 – January 17, 2002) was an influential Spanish writer and member of the Generation of 50. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Günter Wilhelm Grass (born October 16, 1927) is a Nobel Prize-winning German author, He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now GdaÅ„sk, Poland). ... The Tin Drum (German: Die Blechtrommel) is a 1959 novel by Günter Grass. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Robert Clark Young (born 1960) is an American author of novels, essays, and short stories. ... One of the Guys is an earnestly satirical and picaresque novel by Robert Clark Young, published in 1999, concerning the fantastical adventures of a man posing as a chaplain on a U.S. Navy ship which goes berserk and terrorizes a number of ports in the Far East before the... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is a prolific American writer and social activist, notable for novels, poetry, and screenwriting. ... Rubyfruit Jungle is the first novel (1973) by Rita Mae Brown, remarkable for its explicit lesbianism. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Dirty Weekend is a film (1993) directed by Michael Winner based on a 1991 novel by Helen Zahavi (screenplay by Zahavi and Winner). ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Stewart Home (born 1962) is a British fiction writer, subcultural pamphleteer, underground art historian, and activist. ... This article or section needs to be wikified. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Sarah Waters (born in Wales, 1966) is a British novelist. ... Tipping the Velvet is a novel written by Sarah Waters and published by Virago. ...

See also

• Adventure novel

The adventure novel is a literary genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme. ...

References

• Alexander A. Parker: Literature and the delinquent: The picaresque novel in Spain and Europe, 1599-1753.