Lazarillo de Tormes: Spanish Picaresque Novel Origins

Lazarillo de Tormes is an anonymous Spanish novel, written in the first person and in epistolary style (as one long letter). Its earliest known edition dates back to 1554. It is an autobiographical account of the life of a child, Lázaro de Tormes, in the sixteenth century, covering his life from birth and miserable childhood to his marriage and adulthood.

It is considered the forerunner of the picaresque novel due to elements such as:

• Realism (the first-person narrative).
• The structure roaming between multiple masters.
• Moralizing and pessimistic ideology.

Lazarillo de Tormes is an outline of the ironic, ruthless society of the time, showing its vices and hypocrisy, especially concerning the clergy and religious figures. There are different hypotheses about its authorship. Probably, the author was sympathetic to Erasmian ideas. This resulted in the Inquisition banning the work, which was later allowed publication only after being purged. The work was never published in full until the nineteenth or twentieth century.

Twentieth Century Matchmaker

Authoring: Comedy of Calisto and Melibea Tragicomedy

The authorship is much debated. It is now accepted that Acts II to XXI are the work of Fernando de Rojas.

Origins of the Work

Influences include Roman comedy, elegiac comedy, and humanistic comedy.

Gender: Drama or Novel

The work exhibits drama through verbal conflict in dialogue and drama through a high emotional tone.

Dramatic Modes of Discourse

The dialogue of Celestina is long and rhetorical, contrasting with quick verbal exchanges, concise speech, and counter-arguments.

Treatment of Love

It features a parody of courtly love. Calisto attempts to skip the rules of courtly love, declaring himself to Melibea the first time they are alone. The young man does not keep the secret, using a bawd.

Magic

The bawd uses magic (the collection of love) to bring about a passion of love in Calisto for Melibea.

Locu Love

Love leads to the prey of Melibea and ultimately to suicide.

Sexual Love

The matchmaker facilitates physical love, including Lucrecia and Melibea's relations with Calisto.

Increpación Love

After the accidental death of Calisto, Melibea commits suicide, which leads to her father Pleberio's lamentation about love.

Characters

They are unique creatures shaped by their speeches, trials, and descriptions from other characters.