A colleague suggested I read these and even kindly sent the volume to me. I was familiar with the picaresque but hadn't known that it originated in Spain. These authors were writing at about the time of Cervantes, though they were more laconic. The novels are both funny, and they're probably funnier if you know more about the history of the period and place. ( )

Some entertaining moments. Some fun swindles. I would say you could read it for an understanding of the times in which Lope de Vega and Cervantes lived. Those were different times, when a book like this could make a splash. Nowadays, it gets relegated to the dusty shelf of classics alongside Humphrey Clinker and what not. True, it is not a magnificent piece of fiction. It does not astound with its intelligence, but it contains wit and merry adventure in the filthy streets and abbeys of Spain, which is enough atmosphere and reward for me.

As an artifact, and an argument for the picaresque genre, I would argue its importance. As a precursor to Don Quixote, as some claim, I would scoff at that. The Introduction and notes do more to spoil the fun than enlighten the reader. I don't go into reading fiction to uncover multi-lingual puns, but slap a few clever translations into a foreign book and readers seem to revel and exude exuberance. Puns are nice and all... but the meat and potatoes of the story and characters do more to fill me up. ( )

First, a touch of history: as my introduction says, "The word picaresque derives from the Spanish pícaro, which means rascal or crafty good-for-nothing, and is used to describe the hero of a similar novel, Guzmán de Alfarache (1599)." The word "hero" is rather a misnomer, seeing as the lead characters are basically thieving rascals. Lazarillo de Tormes is the first ever picaresque novel, and it was quite the change from the in-vogue chivalrous novels of the time (you know, those novels Don Quixote satirized), and the book was quite popular and actually banned by the Inquisition.

So, I can't say that I loved this. The novels (or rather, novellas) were interesting to read, in that they're basically a piece of history, but of themselves, I was not so enamored. To me, they were essentially a much shorter and less amusing version of Don Quixote. Because, Quixote is practically a rascal himself, but through imbecility and ignorance rather than choice like a pícaro, which serves to make him both more entertaining and less of a jerk. The style is episodic (again like Don Quixote), so they're really not like a novel with a plot, but rather, each chapter is some incident or short time period spent in company with a specific person/group, where bad things happen to the "hero."

Lazarillo is quite short at about 55 pages, and it ends quite abruptly. The swindler is longer at about 130 pages, and the writing is smoother. However, the intro does point out that Lazarillo has "only about 20,000 words and every one of them counts. The descriptions are pithy and economical, the language colloquial though not ephemeral. This is artistry artfully concealed," and I can see there being something to that. But, it's written basically like a letter to someone, and finishes telling about a last situation, of which the final sentence of the last paragraph is simply "I will inform Your Honor of my future in due course." And that's it. That's the end of the book. Out of nowhere. Meanwhile, The swindler flows better throughout, with a more steady timeline and not-so-abrupt ending. I think there were also more notably amusing moments, but given that it's nearly triple the length, it'd be unfair to hold that against Lazarillo. Even so, those aspects did make for a bit of a nicer read. That said, the back blurb calls it a "scatological adventure," and that's no lie. This book is repeatedly gross and the characters often exceedingly nasty and cruel, making me rather glad to live a few hundred years distant from them!

Overall, I might suggest the quick trip through Lazarillo to get a notion of this old famous novel type, but personally I would not be jumping to recommend the picaresque novel as a genre to someone simply looking for a fun time. ( )

Doing the dirty, picaresque style

Vulgar, exuberant, down right nasty, late-renaissance reactions to genteel chivalric tales, these two novels do the low life long before the romantics, the fin-de-siclists and the film noirists, in fact, 100s of years before those guys tried it. ( )

The picaresque novel came into fashion at a time when Spain was experiencing a moral decline. The "nobility"without scruples plagued the streets as much as thieves and swindlers. These two novels portray the criminal world while touching the subjects of religious hypocricy, the distortion of honor away from relating to an individual's actions, the importance of appearances over honest work, and hatred towards the religious "other"and converts.

Lazarillo de Tormes is one of the most famous Spanish picaresque novels. Lazarillo gives "Your Honor" an account of the misfortunes of his life beginning with his childhood as the son of a poor couple. As he begins working for a blind man (a swindling blind man), he learns that in order to survive on the streets, he needs to learn how to outsmart others and take advantage of them.

There are many funny moments and lots of scatological humor accompanied by abuses ofpower, religious hypocricy, and all sorts of injustices directed towards Lazarillo as well as others around him. This is the story of an anti-hero you feel sorry for at times, but not always. It is a short, entertaining read and one of my favorites.

The Swindler - Don Pablos is a son of a dishonest barber and a woman reputed to be a witch and of Jewish descent despite her catholic-implying last names. Don Pablos recountsthe experiences of his life; he first lets the reader (or the listener, if they are blind) know that his dream as a child was to become a gentleman. Unfortunately, he is drawn into a world of swindlers and thieves and does not seem to have the will power to pull himself out.

Like Lazarillo, Don Pablos finds himself going from desperate to desperate situation. There is a lot of humor in the novel pertaining to the incidents of decet and digestive health. There are a lot of hillarious similes, the language is simple and it is much like Lazarillo de Tormes in form, but with a character who handles himself very differently and learns very different life lessons! ( )