Renaissance Castilian Prose and the Picaresque Novel

16th-Century Castilian Prose

During the Renaissance, the development of Castilian prose branched into four distinct directions:

• Didactic prose: Aims at the improvement of humanity and the reformation of society. Juan de Valdés (1499-1541) and his work Dialogue on Language (1535) highlight the linguistic concerns of the century.
• Historical prose: Fueled by the expansionist spirit of the era and the prospects created by the conquest of the Americas. Notable is Father Mariana with his History of the Indies.
• Religious prose: Formative in purpose and in tune with the popular religiosity of the time. Fray Luis de León, in The Perfect Wife, offers a treatise on the virtues expected of a Christian woman.
• Prose narrative: Gained increasing importance due to a growing readership. While various narrative forms from the 15th century were maintained and modified, fresh works of diverse genres and entertainment also emerged.

Sixteenth-Century Narrative Forms

Renaissance narratives developed along two primary trends: idealistic, which includes fantastic tales of adventurers, and realistic, which is remarkable for its detailed description of characters and settings.

Types of Narrative:

• Romances: Amadís of Gaul (1508) by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.
• Italian novella
• Pastoral novel
• Byzantine novel
• Moorish novel

The Picaresque Novel

The genre began in 1544 with The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes and of His Fortunes and Adversities.

The Birth of the Genre:

• The social environment of the time.
• Increasing discrimination based on "purity of blood" affecting "new Christians."
• The opening of ideology initiated by Charles I and the emergence of Erasmian ideas.
• An emerging literary reaction against books of chivalry.

Essential Features of the Rogue:

• Displays an unheroic attitude.
• Ironically presents a family tree under difficult conditions.
• Works as a servant to many masters.
• Motivated by immediate survival (hunger).
• Suffers adversity with resignation.
• Highly adaptable and non-materialistic.
• Possesses a deformed code of honor, transitioning quickly from innocence to evil.

Picaresque Characteristics:

• Autobiographical, first-person fiction.
• Succession of episodic memories.
• Shifting narrative action.
• Predetermined end.
• Temporal evolution from childhood to maturity.
• Temporary confluences, as visions are interspersed between the adult narrator and the child narrator.