PICARESQUE, QUE SO...

In Stuart Miller's Introduction to The Picaresque Novel (1967), the author laments that there is little in the way of defining the Picaresque genre, or novels written using the conventions of the Picaresque novels, "there are no studies of the picaresque novel in the sense in which Aristotle's Poetics is a study of tragedy." (Miller, 1967)

Additionally, Miller fixes the date of the Picaresque "period from about 1550 to 1750" (Miller, 1967). But, his attempts at delineation of the Picaresque span the rest of his monograph; Miller first dissects the Picaresque into three parts: Plot, Pattern, and Rhythm," "Character," and "Interpretive Devices: Point of View, Style, and the Ending of the Picaresque Novel." But, back to the definition. And therein lies the difficulty. Because Miller's text is so expansive, it is hard to devour morsels and the reader must immerse themselves in Miller's focused study.

What I like most about Picaresque novels, Miller addresses in his first division: Plot. According to Miller, "The infinite possibilities of the picaresque plot express total openness. Since there are no limitations of probability, the door is left open to the fantastic, the improbable, and even the weird. The picaresque plot expresses an intuition that the world is without order, is chaotic." (Miller, 1967) There is also in the Picaresque novel, a seeming preference for the episodic plot rather than a causal one, meaning that the protagonist is mostly acted upon and does not really leave a lasting, cause-and-effect footprint.

Miller also mentions other characteristics of the Picaresque novel, among them rhythm. According to Miller, "A Picaresque device closely related to the episodic plot is the piling of event on event in a strikingly short compass" (Miller, 1967). In other words, the movement of narrative in the beginning of a Spicaresque novel is fast, varied, and prone to the supernatural, metaphysical, and the pernicious. It is almost as if the exposition of the Picaresque novel pushes a V8 instead of a 4 cylinder Romance machination. A lot of stuff happens in a relatively short order of time, but this is much more resonant in the actual life of a reader: in one day you can lose your apartment, your job, and you girl. It has happened before.

In this light I can think of so many films and books that roll out their narration in a Picaresque manner. I mean I always like to talk about Magnolia, so I wonder if those first ten minutes of the film are in some way Picaresque? I guess if they add to the narrative, which they do, then they might qualify. And even, Hellboy II, which I saw the other night and fell asleep during has strains of the Picaresque. There is so much exposition (visual exposition) about the taxonomy of these other-wordly fairies that maybe that is Picaresque as well. Actually, my last post was about reading a Pelevin short story called "A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia," and that is certainly written in a Picaresque way because of the agility of the contextual exposition. You are immersed into the story with amazing background by like page two, and that kind of writing is exhilarating to me and it should be to you too.

Spicaro