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The picaresque novel ( which is usually Satirical and depicts in Realistic and often humorous detail the Adventure s of a roguish Hero of low Social Class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society. This style of Novel originated in Spain and flourished in Europe in the 17th and 18th Centuries and continues to influence modern literature. HISTORY The genre has classical precedent in 's ''Guzmán de Alfarache'', characterized by religiosity. Francisco De Quevedo 's ''El buscón'' ( 1626 ) is considered the masterpiece of the subgenre, because of his Baroque style and the study of the delinquent psychology. In other European countries, these Spanish novels were read and imitated. In 's '' Gil Blas '' ( 1715 ). In England , the body of Tobias Smollett 's work, and Daniel Defoe 's '' Moll Flanders '' ( 1722 ) are considered picaresque, but they lack the sense of religious redemption of delinquency that was very important in Spanish and German novels. The triumph of Moll Flanders is more economic than moral. INFLUENCE ON MODERN FICTION In the English -speaking world, the term "picaresque" has referred more to a Literary Technique or model than to the precise genre that the Spanish call ''picaresco''. The English-language term can simply refer to an episodic recounting of the adventures of an Anti-hero on the road. Henry Fielding proved his mastery of the form in '' Joseph Andrews '' ( 1742 ), ''The Life of Jonathan Wild the Great'' ( 1743 ) and '' The History Of Tom Jones, A Foundling '' ( 1749 ), but, as Fielding himself wrote, these novels were written in imitation of the manner of Cervantes , author of '' Don Quixote '', not in imitation of the picaresque novel. Other novels with elements of the picaresque include the French '' Candide '', the Canadian '' Solomon Gursky Was Here '' and the English '' The Luck Of Barry Lyndon ''. Some modern novelists have used some techniques of the antique novels, as Gogol in '' Dead Souls '' (1842-52). Rudyard Kipling 's '' Kim '' ( 1901 ) combined the influence of the picaresque novel with the then new Spy Novel . Jaroslav Hašek 's '' The Good Soldier Svejk '' ( 1923 ?) was the first example of the picaresque technique in Central Europe . Mark Twain 's '' The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn '' was consciously written as a picaresque novel, as were many other novels of vagabond life, such as Jack Kerouac 's '' On The Road '' ( 1957 ); Saul Bellow 's '' The Adventures Of Augie March '' is a picaresque novel with '' Bildungsroman '' traits. Hunter S. Thompson 's " Gonzo Journalism " can be seen as a hybrid of fictional picaresque with memoir and traditional reportage. The picaresque elements are especially prominent in his less journalistic, more literary and psychotopically themed works, such as " Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas " and "The Great Shark Hunt". A rather darker use of picaresque tradition can be found in Jerzy Kosinski 's '' The Painted Bird '' ( 1965 ). Sergio Leone identified his Spaghetti Westerns , more specifically his ''Dollars'' trilogy, as being in the picaresque style. Other recent examples are Camilo José Cela 's ''La familia de Pascual Duarte'' ( 1951 ), '' Günter Grass 's '' The Tin Drum '' ( 1959 ), '' Rita Mae Brown 's '' Rubyfruit Jungle '' ( 1973 ) Helen Zahavi 's '' Dirty Weekend '' ( 1991 ), and Stewart Home 's '' Cunt '' ( 1999 ). SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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