Written by an international group of scholars, this edited collection provides an overview of the Spanish picaresque from its origins in tales of lowborn adventurers to its importance for the modern novel, along with consideration of the debates that the picaresque has inspired.
The term
picaresque describes a specific set of early modern Spanish narratives relating the life story of a lowborn adventurer in a realist, ironic, and often humorous manner. The protagonist, the
picaro or
pícara (rascal), seeks upward mobility in a resolutely hierarchical society determined to prevent his – or her – ascent, and both are rich targets of satire. Spanish
pícaros inspired Anglo-French rogues including Gil Blas and Tom Jones and paved the way for the modern novel.
Written by an international group of scholars, this edited collection provides an overview of the Spanish picaresque novel from its origins to the present day, along with a treatment of the debates that the picaresque has inspired. After introductory chapters on the picaresque genre and the origin of the phenomenon, the book analyses canonical texts and their role in the picaresque spectrum. Further chapters then turn to critical approaches to the genre and manifestations of the picaresque in Hispanic America, France, England, and modern Spain. Overall, the book affords readers a broad sense of the range of this rich tradition and an in-depth view of the field and its major texts.
Tabella dei contenuti
List of Contributors
Forward
1. The Picaresque as a Genre
Edward H. Friedman
2. On the Picaresque and Its Origins
Anne J. Cruz
3. Francisco Delicado,
La lozana andaluza
Marta Albalá Pelegrín
4.
Lazarillo de Tormes
J. A. Garrido Ardila
5. Mateo Alemán,
Guzmán de Alfarache
Howard Mancing
6. Francisco de Quevedo,
La vida del buscón
Edward H. Friedman
7.
La pícara Justina
Brian M. Phillips
8. Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo,
La hija de Celestina
Enrique García Santo-Tomás
9. Miguel de Cervantes and the Picaresque
Vicente Pérez de León
10. Vicente Espinel,
Marcós de Obregón
John C. Parrack
11. Carlos García
, La desordenada codicia de los bienes agenos
Antón García-Fernández
12.
Estebanillo González
Faith S. Harden
13. Critical Approaches to the Picaresque
Hilaire Kallendorf
14. The Picaresque in Spanish America
José Luis Gastañaga Ponce de León
15. Continuations: France and England
Richard Squibbs
16. Continuity of the Picaresque: Spain
Andrés Zamora
Bibliography
Circa l’autore
EDWARD H. FRIEDMAN is emeritus Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University.