Spanish Prose Development: 16th and 17th Centuries

Development of Prose in the 16th Century

The Renaissance aesthetic ideas soon blended prose fiction and didactic prose. It combined medieval traditions with innovative currents.

Didactic Prose: The Dialogues

This was a genre with great acceptance and was instrumental in the development of the novel. The most appreciated were those of Juan de Valdés and Alfonso de Valdés.

Prose Fiction Genres

Includes the pastoral, Moorish, and Byzantine genres.

Pastoral Novel

Los siete libros de la Diana (1559) by Jorge de Montemayor was published. This work is centered on the love of the protagonist for Diana. It exemplifies the most outstanding feature of the pastoral novel: the idealization of nature and love (characterized by a quiet and melancholic language).

Moorish Novel

El Abencerraje popularized the idealization of the figure of the Moor and the fraternization between Muslim and Christian cultures.

Byzantine Novel

In these novels, the course of the adventure is interspersed with romantic action. The first writer of this genre was Alonso Núñez de Reinoso.

Trends in 17th Century Prose

The booming genre of the novel saw different fates. The Byzantine novel was much appreciated, while chivalry and pastoral novels disappeared. The picaresque novel was consolidated with Guzmán de Alfarache. In prose fiction, a genre called Menippean satire also developed.

The Picaresque Novel

Although Lazarillo was quite read, it failed to establish a genre until Mateo Alemán published the first part of Guzmán de Alfarache (1599) and the second part (1604). The picaresque novel adopts the autobiographical formula. The autobiography serves partly to introduce the most varied digressions on different themes. The rogue protagonist presents his story as a confession.

Lazarillo de Tormes

Although Lazarillo is considered one of the first picaresque works, it is certain that there were at least two editions before 1554. It is a brief book and is understood as the beginning of the modern novel due to its plausible, realistic tone in which the protagonist's character is a product of the world around him.

Subject Matter

Presented as written by the protagonist in autobiographical form, like a letter. The autobiography recounts the childhood of Lazarillo and lasts until the time of writing the text, in which the main character tries to clarify his situation.

Realistic Fiction Elements

The author of this narrative fiction wanted to push the limits of plausibility so much that they disappeared without signing the work. The book was written in a "rude" or humble style. We only find out that Lazarillo's job is to be a town crier in Toledo. In contrast to other types of novels, Lázaro is an outsider who has to live in a harsh and cruel society.

Structure of Lazarillo

It is divided into 7 chapters or "treatises" and a prologue. The first 3 treatises follow folktale patterns. The issue of hunger is developed in a piecemeal fashion following a traditional scheme based on the number 3:

• Hunger with the blind man
• Hunger with the cleric
• Ravenous hunger with the squire

From the fourth treatise, the author uses the narrative structure of the story "in string".

Posterity of Lazarillo

The initial success of Lazarillo was limited. Interest in the work revived after 1599, when Guzmán de Alfarache (by Mateo Alemán) was published.