''Guzmán de Alfarache'' () is a

picaresque novel The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for ' rogue' or 'rascal') is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish but appealing hero, usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrup ...

written by Mateo Alemán and published in two parts: the first in Madrid in 1599 with the title , and the second in 1604, titled '. The works tells the first person adventures of a ''picaro'', a young street urchin, as he matures into adulthood. It thus ultimately both recounts adventures and moralizes on those childish excesses. ''Guzmán de Alfarache'', by this means, is conceived as an extensive doctrinal sermon about the sins of society, and was so received by the author's contemporaries, despite the hybrid qualities between an engaging novel and a moralizing discourse. The novel was highly popular in its time. Many editions were published, not only in Spanish, but in French, German, English, Italian, and Latin. The English translation, by

James Mabbe James Mabbe or Mab (1572–1642) was an English scholar, translator, and poet, and a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He was involved in translations from Spanish language, Spanish, notably of the Picaresque novel by Mateo Alemán, ''Guzmán de ...

, was published in 1622, under alternative titles ''The Rogue'' and ''The Life of Guzman de Alfarache''. Apocryphal sequels and imitations were also soon produced, being that of 1602, written, probably, by the lawyer and poet Juan Martí, under the pseudonym of ''Mateo Luján de Sayavedra'', and published in Valencia, the most important and successful, due to its influence on the second part of Alemán.

Genre

This novel has many similarities to other picaresque novels such as ''

Lazarillo de Tormes ''The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes and of His Fortunes and Adversities'' ( ) is a Spanish novella, published anonymously because of its anticlerical content. It was published simultaneously in three cities in 1554: Alcalá de Henares, Burgos a ...

''. The main character is an antihero, born in infamy, and emerging into a lower-class world of delinquency and roguish misadventures. He ends up condemned as a prisoner to be a galley-slave, seeking absolution for his past life.

Modern editions

Among the most prominent modern editions are those by: *Francisco Rico, Barcelona, Planeta, 1987. *José María Micó, Madrid, Cátedra, 1987.

Adaptations

In 1987, a loose film adaptation titled '' The Rogues'' was directed by

Mario Monicelli Mario Alberto Ettore Monicelli (; 16 May 1915 – 29 November 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, one of the masters of the ''commedia all'italiana'' ("Italian-style comedy"). He was nominated six times for an Academy Awards, Os ...

Notes

*This is an abridged entry based on the Spanish Wikipedia entry.

External links

Digital versions

''Primera parte de Guzmán de Alfarache''
edición en pdf a partir de la de Rosa Navarro Durán
''Novela picaresca, Tomo I''
Madrid, Fundación José Antonio de Castro (Biblioteca Castro), 2004, págs. 55-346. Link t
PDF of the ''First part''.
(226 Kb).

ed. en pdf a partir de la ed. cit. ''supra'', págs. 347-717. Link t
PDF of the ''Second part''.
(193 Kb).
''Vida y hechos del pícaro Guzmán de Alfarache: atalaya de la vida humana'', Amberes, Jerónimo Verdussen, 1681
Joint edition of both parts with engravings by Gaspar Bouttats. Digital reproduction by the Biblioteca Virtual de Andalucía. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Guzman de Alfarache Spanish literature 1599 novels 1604 novels Spanish picaresque novels Spanish satirical novels 16th-century Spanish novels 17th-century Spanish novels