The Picaresque Novel in Western Literature: From the Sixteenth Century to the Neopicaresque [Hardcover]

Explores picaresque fiction across ages and cultures, providing a revealing and fresh examination of this literary genre.The Picaresque Novel in Western Literature offers a comprehensive view of the picaresque genre, its origins, definition and subsequent development in Western literatures. Comprising thirteen chapters by leading international scholars, it offers insights into novels by major authors from Cervantes, Quevedo and Cela to Defoe, Smollett and Mann.The Picaresque Novel in Western Literature offers a comprehensive view of the picaresque genre, its origins, definition and subsequent development in Western literatures. Comprising thirteen chapters by leading international scholars, it offers insights into novels by major authors from Cervantes, Quevedo and Cela to Defoe, Smollett and Mann.Since the sixteenth century, Western literature has produced picaresque novels penned by authors across Europe, from Alem?n, Cervantes, Lesage and Defoe to Cela and Mann. Contemporary authors of neopicaresque are renewing this traditional form to express twenty-first-century concerns. Notwithstanding its major contribution to literary history, as one of the founding forms of the modern novel, the picaresque remains a controversial literary category, and its definition is still much contested. The Picaresque Novel in Western Literature examines the development of the picaresque, chronologically and geographically, from its origins in sixteenth-century Spain to the neopicaresque in Europe and the United States.1. Origins and definition of the picaresque genre J. A. Garrido Ardila; 2. Lazarillo de Tormes and the dream of a world without poverty Alexander Samson; 3. Guzm?n de Alfarache and after: the Spanish picaresque novel in the seventeenth century Howard Mancing; 4. The Spanish female picaresque Enrique Garc?a Santo-Tom?s; 5. The Baroque picaro: Francisco de Quevedo's Busc?n Edward H. Friedman; 6. Cervantes and the picaresque: a question of compatibility Chad M. Gasta; 7. l£!