Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons^™

Identity Crisis And The Emergence Of The Picaresque In Literature From Early Modern Spain And Twentieth Century Argentina, Mary Johnson Shepherd

Theses and Dissertations

The picaresque genre and character appeared in what is considered the first modern novel, Lazarillo de Tormes, which was published anonymously in 1554, when Spain was on the cusp of a slow transition out of feudalism. The pícaro has continued to appear in literature across regions and epochs. This thesis looks at the socio-ideological factors that give birth to picaresque identity and behavior, as well as the verisimilitude of fiction in relation to reality. The first part of this study is dedicated to the Spanish picaresque tradition and focuses on the universal qualities of the literary figure and genre, as …