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

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

Since the sixteenth century, Western literature has produced picaresque novels penned by authors across Europe, from Alemán, 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. 'A stellar cast of senior scholars takes on what must surely be one of the most controversial terms in literary criticism. Ardila’s concise essay on the origins of the picaresque novel provides the necessary backdrop for the other essays … Each essay is an excellent read, and the whole is a marvel of intelligent inquiry that will surely prompt more comparative interest. A must read for scholars of Hispanic and European literature, this is also a real contribution to the history of the novel in Western literature and deserves wide dissemination among the intellectually curious. Summing Up: Highly recommended.' K. M. Sibbald, Choice '… [it] is a lucid, wide-ranging guide to a field that has provoked more than its share of controversy, confusion and misattribution … While Garrido Ardila accepts Guillén’s distinction between myth and genre, he also helpfully isolates three core ingredients for an inclusive, yet coherent, definition of the picaresque …' Muireann Maguire, Journal of European Studies 'This book is an excellent addition to the numerous subgenres contributing to the emergence of the novel. Its authors delve into a wealth of works from manifold cultural and linguistic contexts, decentring any one literary location or language, which will be welcomed by scholars working on the development of prose from a range of modern languages.' Forum for Modern Language Studies 'The extent to which Enlightenment novelists recognized and drew upon these [picaresque] formal innovations remains to be explored, and this stimulating collection should help point the way forward.' Richard Squibbs, Studies in the Novel Explores picaresque fiction across ages and cultures, providing a revealing and fresh examination of this literary genre. J. A. Garrido Ardila is Professor of Modern Spanish and Comparative Literature at the University of Edinburgh. He is author of El género picaresco en la crítica literaria (2008), Novela picaresca en Europa, 1554–1753 (2009), and, most recently, author of Cervantes en Inglaterra, 2nd edition (2013) and editor of Textos del desastre: la última gran crisis (1898) (2013).