V.V. (1) Picaresque novel

[jbor]

Yes, I think that perhaps the larger point that I was trying to get at (and
I'm not sure that Eco would disagree either) is that "the novel" as a
discrete and marketable literary form directly derives from the Spanish
picaresque (through *Don Quixote*). In a sense all novels are picaresque,
(meta-)representing as they do the *author's* journey through a (real or
imagined) social setting. Thus is the author of novelistic fiction (like) a
pícaro; and postmodern fictions are very self-conscious about this aspect of
their genesis. Think too of Pynchon's comment at the end of the *Slow
Learner* 'Intro' about the "picaresque life" the Beats "seemed to us to be
leading" and his consciousness of his own corollary transition from
'apprentice' to 'journeyman'. (21-22)

best

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>From: The Great Quail <quail at libyrinth.com>
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: NP: Picaresque novel
>Date: Mon, Oct 9, 2000, 2:56 AM
>

> jbor:
>
>>The picaresque novel is a literary phenomenon originating in Spain and
>>deriving in part, perhaps, from oral traditions of carnival pageantry and
>>(usually grotesque) comic parody. It takes the form of an autobiographical
>>account of the adventures of a particular type -- a *pícaro*, or 'rogue' --
>>within contemporary society.
>
> Just as a note to those interested; Umberto Eco has recently
> described his next novel, "Baudolino," as a "picaresque novel" set in
> the thirteenth century....
>
> Maybe the English translation will be re-titled "B." ...?
>
> --Quail
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> The Great Quail, Keeper of the Libyrinth:
> http://www.TheModernWord.com
>
> Every novel is an ideal plane inserted into the realm of reality.
>       --J.L. Borges