Picaresque
Also known as picaresque novel · rogue novel
A story that follows a roguish, low-born hero through a chain of loosely linked adventures as they live by their wits, satirizing the society they pass through. The form began in Spain with Lazarillo de Tormes (1554).
- Adventure story
- Nico joins the circus to find the man who robbed his father.
- Picaresque
- Nico joins the circus because he lied about taming lions, and leaves before the lions find out.
In practice
A picaresque is a story, usually a novel, that follows a roguish hero of low social standing through a series of loosely connected adventures, as they live by their wits in a corrupt world. The word comes from the Spanish pícaro, "rogue" or "rascal." The hero moves from place to place and master to master, and the episodes add up to a satirical portrait of the society they pass through.
The form began in Spain's Golden Age. The anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes (1554) is usually counted as the first, a short first-person account of a boy who serves a blind beggar, a stingy priest and a penniless squire and learns to cheat to survive. Mateo Alemán's Guzmán de Alfarache (1599 and 1604), which readers of the time called the book of the pícaro, and Francisco de Quevedo's El Buscón (published 1626) established the genre.
The pattern spread across Europe and outlived its origins: Grimmelshausen's Simplicius Simplicissimus (1668) in German, Lesage's Gil Blas (1715–1735) in French, and Defoe's Moll Flanders (1722) and Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) in English. Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March (1953) carried it into American fiction, and road films still use its shape.
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A picaresque episode in a scene
INT. TRAVELING CIRCUS - OWNER'S WAGON - DAY
MADAME VOSS (60s) counts takings at a cluttered desk. NICO (20s), sunburned, broke and smiling, stands in the doorway with his hat in his hands.
MADAME VOSS
My lion tamer left last night. Can you handle big cats?
NICO
Madame, I was raised by them.
She studies him, then tosses him a whip. He catches it by the wrong end. Outside, something large roars.
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Nico is a pícaro in one exchange: poor, quick and willing to lie his way into the next place to eat. The scene is a self-contained episode with its own setup and payoff, and the roar promises that it will end with him on the road again, which is the rhythm the whole genre runs on.
Characteristics of picaresque fiction
A low-born, roguish protagonist who survives by cunning, trickery and luck rather than heroism, and who often tells the story in the first person, looking back on a life of scrapes. The narrator's frank, unrepentant voice is half the appeal.
An episodic structure: the plot is a chain of adventures with different masters, places and schemes, loosely held together by the hero's journey. Episodes can often be rearranged or removed without breaking the story, which separates the picaresque from tightly plotted forms.
Social satire and little inner change. Because the pícaro moves through every class, from beggars to priests to nobles, the genre exposes hypocrisy wherever it goes. The hero's circumstances change constantly, but their character usually does not, and the ending often leaves them roughly where they began, only wiser about the world.
Picaresque novel and film examples
Spanish classics: Lazarillo de Tormes, Guzmán de Alfarache and El Buscón. Cervantes's Don Quixote (1605 and 1615) borrows the episodic road structure, but its hero is a gentleman with ideals rather than a rogue, so it is usually treated as a relative of the picaresque rather than an example.
Later novels: Simplicius Simplicissimus, Gil Blas, Moll Flanders, Tom Jones, Thackeray's The Luck of Barry Lyndon (1844), Huckleberry Finn, Thomas Mann's Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man (1954) and The Adventures of Augie March.
Film and TV: Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975), the Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and many road movies follow a wandering hero through a chain of encounters. Forrest Gump is often called picaresque for its episodic tour of American history, though its hero is innocent rather than roguish, which is the opposite of the classic pícaro.
Picaresque vs. adventure story and bildungsroman
An adventure story also moves from episode to episode, but its hero is usually brave and admirable, and the plot builds toward a single goal. The picaresque hero is an antihero of sorts, a survivor with dubious morals, and the episodes matter more for what they reveal about society than for where they lead.
A bildungsroman follows a young person's growth into maturity, and inner change is its whole subject. A picaresque often begins in youth as well, but the pícaro changes little; the education they receive is in the ways of the world, not in becoming a better person.
How to write a picaresque story
Build the voice first. A pícaro's narration should be frank, funny and a little shameless, so readers enjoy the company of someone they would not trust. Decide how much the narrator admits and how much the reader is meant to see through.
Design episodes that each satirize a different part of society: a new master, a new town, a new con. Give every episode its own small arc with a setup, a scheme and an escape, so it works on its own, and let recurring characters or a loose goal tie the journey together.
In a screenplay or series, the structure suits episodic television and road films well. Keep a thin through line, such as a debt, a pursuer or a destination, so a feature has momentum, and let the hero's fixed character be the constant the changing world bounces off.
Common questions
What does picaresque mean?
Relating to a story about a roguish, low-born hero who lives by their wits through a series of episodic adventures. It comes from the Spanish pícaro, meaning rogue.
What is a picaresque novel?
A novel, often narrated in the first person, that follows a likable rogue from one adventure to the next and satirizes the society they pass through. Lazarillo de Tormes (1554) is considered the first.
What is an example of a picaresque novel?
Lazarillo de Tormes, Moll Flanders and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are well-known examples.
Is Don Quixote picaresque?
Not strictly. It shares the picaresque's episodic road structure, but Don Quixote is an idealistic gentleman, not a low-born rogue, so it is usually seen as related to the genre rather than part of it.
Is Forrest Gump picaresque?
It is often called picaresque because of its episodic journey through history, but Forrest is innocent rather than cunning, so it is a loose fit with the classic form.
What is a pícaro?
The rogue hero of a picaresque story: usually poor, clever and morally flexible, surviving by tricks and service to a series of masters. A female version is a pícara.
How do you pronounce picaresque?
pik-uh-RESK, with the stress on the last syllable. The Spanish pícaro it comes from is PEE-kah-roh.