Editing Picaresque novel (section)

===Other initial works===
[[Image:Grabado Guzmán Alfarache.jpg|thumb|left|Title page of the book ''Guzmán de Alfarache'' (1599)]]
An early example is [[Mateo Alemán]]'s ''[[Guzmán de Alfarache]]'' (1599), characterized by religiosity. Guzmán de Alfarache is a fictional character who lived in the city of [[San Juan de Aznalfarache]], in [[Seville]], Spain.

[[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 absolute masterpiece of the genre by A. A. Parker, because of his [[baroque]] style and the study of delinquent psychology. However, a different school of thought, led by [[Francisco Rico]], rejects Parker's view, contending instead that the protagonist is an unrealistic character and that—as the structure of the novel is radically different from previous works in the picaresque genre—Quevedo is using the form as a mere vehicle to show off his abilities with conceit and rhetoric (rather than to actually construct a satirical critique of [[Spanish Golden Age]] society).{{citation needed|reason=is this a notable-enough critique & position to include it here, rather than on the novel's page? where did Rico write this?|date=December 2024}}

[[Miguel de Cervantes]] wrote several works "in the picaresque manner, notably ''[[Rinconete y Cortadillo]]'' (1613) and ''[[El coloquio de los perros]]'' (1613; "Colloquy of the Dogs")". "Cervantes also incorporated elements of the picaresque into his greatest novel, ''[[Don Quixote]]'' (1605, 1615)",<ref name="Britannica Picaresque">[https://www.britannica.com/art/picaresque-novel "Picaresque", Britannica online]</ref> the "single most important progenitor of the modern novel", that [[M. H. Abrams]] has described as a "quasi-picaresque narrative".<ref>{{cite book |title=A Glossary of Literary Terms |edition=7th |publisher=Harcourt Brace |year=1985 |page=191 |isbn=0-03-054982-5 }}</ref> Here the hero is not a rogue but a foolish knight.

In order to understand the historical context that led to the development of these paradigmatic picaresque novels in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries, it is essential to take into consideration the circumstances surrounding the lives of ''[[converso]]s,'' whose ancestors had been Jewish, and whose [[New Christian]] faith was subjected to close scrutiny and mistrust.{{efn|For an overview of scholarship on the role of ''conversos'' in the development of the picaresque novel in 16th- and 17th-century Spain, see {{cite book |first=Yael |last=Halevi-Wise |chapter=The Life and Times of the Pícaro Converso from Spain to Latin America |title=Sephardism: Spanish Jewish History in the Modern Literary Imagination |editor-first=Yael |editor-last=Halevi-Wise |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8047-7746-9 |pages=143–167 }}}}

The Spanish novels were read and imitated in other European countries where their influence can be found. In Germany, [[Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen]] wrote ''[[Simplicius Simplicissimus]]''<ref>{{cite book|last=Grimmelshausen|first=H. J. Chr.|title=Der abentheurliche Simplicissimus|trans-title=The adventurous Simplicissimus|language=de|url=http://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/show/grimmelshausen_simplicissimus_1669|author-link=Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen|location=Nuremberg|publisher=J. Fillion|year=1669|oclc=22567416}}</ref> (1669), considered the most important of non-Spanish picaresque novels. It describes the devastation caused by the [[Thirty Years' War]]. Grimmelshausen's novel has been called an example of the German ''abenteuerroman'' (which literally means "adventure novel"). An ''abenteuerroman'' is Germany's version of the picaresque novel; it is an "entertaining story of the adventures of the hero, but there is also often a serious aspect to the story."<ref name="Merriam-Webster 1995. Page 3">Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, Publishers. Springfield, Massachusetts, 1995. Page 3.</ref>

[[Alain-René Le Sage]]'s ''[[Gil Blas]]'' (1715) is a classic example of the genre,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Paulson |first=Ronald |jstor=27714644 |title=Reviewed Work: ''Rogue's Progress: Studies in the Picaresque Novel by Robert Alter'' |journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |volume=64 |issue=2 |year=1965 |page=303 }}</ref> which in France had declined into an aristocratic adventure.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} In Britain, the first example is Thomas Nashe's ''[[The Unfortunate Traveller]]'' (1594) in which a court page, Jack Wilson, exposes the underclass life in a string of European cities through lively, often brutal descriptions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schmidt |first=Michael |title=The Novel: A Biography |location=Cambridge |publisher=Belknap Press |year=2014 |isbn= }}</ref> 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.{{dubious|date=April 2025}} While the mores of the early 18th century wouldn't permit Moll to be a heroine ''per se'', Defoe hardly disguises his admiration for her resilience and resourcefulness.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

====Works with some picaresque elements====
The autobiography of [[Benvenuto Cellini]], written in [[Florence]] beginning in 1558, also has much in common with the picaresque.

The classic Chinese novel ''[[Journey to the West]]'' is considered to have considerable picaresque elements. Having been published  in 1590, it is contemporary with much of the above—but is unlikely to have been directly influenced by the European genre.