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picaresque
picaresque, from the Spanish pícaro, a wily trickster; the form of novel accurately described as ‘picaresque’ first appeared in 16th-cent. Spain with the anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes (1553) and Alemán's Guzmán de Alfarache (1599–1604), which relate the histories of ingenious rogues, the servants of several masters, who eventually repent the error of their ways; examples of their descendants in English would be Moll Flanders, Roderick Random, and Tom Jones. The term was apparently first used in England in the 19th cent. Nowadays it is commonly, and loosely, applied to episodic novels, especially those of Fielding, Smollett, and others of the 18th cent. which describe the adventures of a lively and resourceful hero on a journey. The Golden Ass of Apuleius is regarded as a forerunner of the picaresque novel.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "picaresque." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "picaresque." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-picaresque.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "picaresque." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-picaresque.html |
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picaresque
picaresque of or relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero. The picaresque novel originated in Spain in the 16th century, La Vida de Lazarillo de Tormes (c.1554) usually being cited as the earliest example. In English, the genre is associated particularly with 18th-century writers.
Recorded from the early 19th century, the word comes via French from Spanish picaresco, from picaro ‘rogue’. |
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "picaresque." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "picaresque." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-picaresque.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "picaresque." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-picaresque.html |
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picaresque
picaresque (Sp. pícaro, rogue or knave) Term first applied to an early genre of prose fiction, such as Cervantes' Don Quixote (1615), in which a roguish hero has a series of adventures, providing the writer with a means for satirical comment. In a general sense, the term is often used to refer to fiction that is episodic in structure.
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"picaresque." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "picaresque." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-picaresque.html "picaresque." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-picaresque.html |
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picaresque
pic·a·resque / ˌpikəˈresk/ • adj. of or relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero. |
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"picaresque." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "picaresque." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-picaresque.html "picaresque." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-picaresque.html |
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picaresque
picaresque pert. to rogues, orig. of Sp. literary fiction. XIX. — F. — Sp. picaresco, f. picaro roguish, sb. rogue; see -ESQUE.
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T. F. HOAD. "picaresque." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "picaresque." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-picaresque.html T. F. HOAD. "picaresque." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-picaresque.html |
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picaresque
picaresque •Basque, Monégasque
•ask, bask, cask, flask, Krasnoyarsk, mask, masque, task
•facemask
•arabesque, burlesque, Dantesque, desk, grotesque, humoresque, Junoesque, Kafkaesque, Moresque, picaresque, picturesque, plateresque, Pythonesque, Romanesque, sculpturesque, statuesque
•bisque, brisk, disc, disk, fisc, frisk, risk, whisk
•laserdisc • obelisk • basilisk
•odalisque • tamarisk • asterisk
•mosque, Tosk
•kiosk • Nynorsk • brusque
•busk, dusk, husk, musk, rusk, tusk
•subfusc • Novosibirsk
•mollusc (US mollusk) • damask
•Vitebsk
•Aleksandrovsk, Sverdlovsk
•Khabarovsk • Komsomolsk
•Omsk, Tomsk
•Gdansk, Murmansk, Saransk
•Smolensk
•Chelyabinsk, Minsk
•Donetsk, Novokuznetsk
•Irkutsk, Yakutsk
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"picaresque." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "picaresque." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-picaresque.html "picaresque." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-picaresque.html |
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