Introduction: Transnational Picaresque
2010; University of Iowa; Volume: 89; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0031-7977
Autores Tópico(s)Early Modern Spanish Literature
ResumoThe anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes, first picaresque novel, was written in mid-sixteenth century. No copies of editio princeps have survived; four oldest extant editions all date from 1554, and were printed in Spanish towns of Medina del Campo, Burgos, Alcala, and in Belgian city of Antwerp. The editio princeps was probably printed sometime between 1550 and 1552. Although in 1559 it was included in first Spanish index, vast popularity of this book is attested by those four editions. Lazarillo was a narrative solidly grounded on principle of verisimilitude, a parody of chivalric romances, a literary monument that combined humorous folkloric elements with genre of catre messaggiere and legal issues pertaining to members of clergy and their married lovers. All its innovations are result of a long line of Spanish low-life literature that begins with Fernando de Rojas's Celestina (1499) and includes Francisco Delicado's Retrato de la Lozana andaluza (1528). Similarly, libri vagatorum were a well-known literary tradition throughout Europe. In 1599, Mateo Aleman published first part of his novel Guzman de Alfarache--the second part would appear in 1604. Guzman borrowed many features from Lazarillo: it was fictional autobiography of aman who wished to tell his life in order to claim his repentance, aman from very humble origins who had served a number of masters and had striven to ascend socially and prospered (at times) thanks to his astuteness. Aleman's novel immediately became a bestseller, and a string of emulations ensued. (1) First translated into English as The Rogue by James Mabbe in 1622, Guzman de Alfarache soon achieved bestseller status in England and became, in Patrick Parrinder's words, the prototype of [English] seventeenth-century rogue (2) Seventeenth-century English readers acknowledged popularity of Aleman's novel by popularizing term gusmanry (used in Thomas Dangerfield's Don Tomazo) to mean fashion of Guzman. During English revolution, Loyalists found in mischievous and bawdy adventures of Spanish rogue antithesis of Puritans' moralistic impositions, and gusmanry throve. (3) The second half of seventeenth century produced imitations of Guzman such as The Dutch Rogue: of, Guzman of Amsterdam (1683), Teague O'Divelly: of, Irish Rogue (1690), and plays The Spanish Rogue (1672, 1673) by Thomas Duffet and Guzman (1669) by Roger Boyle. So popular was Spanish character that word gusman entered English language as a synonym for rogue and was used to entitle some criminal biographies, for example, that of notorious James Hind, written by George Fidge, published as The English Gusman (1652). From 1650s to 1680s, no other foreign book of fiction rivaled popularity of Aleman's The Rogue. Other Spanish picaresque novels were also known and enjoyed by English readers: Lazarillo was translated in 1576 by William Rowland, and characters named Lazarillo feature in Thomas Middleton's Blurt, Master Constable (1602), John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont's The Woman Hater (1607), and Fletcher, Beaumont, and Massinger's Love's Cure (16137). Thomas Philipot wrote of Lazarillo de Tormes that Poets have borrow'd much more hence / Than e'er they are meant to pay. (4) Seventeenth-century English fictions that bear influence of Spanish picaresque include Richard Head and Francis Kirkman's The English Rogue, Described in Life of Meriton Latroon (1665, 1668, 1671), and Bunyan's The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680). Interest in picaresque narratives soon throve in other European countries. Hans Jakob Grimmelshausen's novels known as Simplicianische Schriften were clearly influenced by Spanish picaresque. (5) Although his Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus (1669) is most conspicuously picaresque of his works, Die Landst6rtzerin Courasche (1670) achieved a higher literary status. …
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