Renaissance Prose: Didactic, Fiction, and the Picaresque Novel
Didactic Prose
Dialogue
Dialogue, a typical Renaissance genre linked to Erasmus’s ideology, promoted credible, educational literature. Key authors include Alfonso de Valdés (Dialogue of Lactation and Aecediano) and Juan de Valdés (Dialogue of the Tongue).
Sundries
Sundries encompass diverse topics with didactic purposes, considered precedents for essays. Notable authors are Juan Huarte de San Juan (Examen de Ingenios), Friar Antonio de Guevara (Family Letters), and Melchor de Santa Cruz (Floresta Española).
History
Historical literature explored history and its sources. Key figures include Father Mariana (History of Spain), Hernán Cortés (True History of the Conquest of New Spain), and Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies).
Fiction Prose: The Novel
The novel flourished during the Renaissance, typically short works focusing on unrequited love.
Books of Chivalry: Amadis of Gaul
Set in a fictional world, this genre celebrates chivalry ideals. A gallant hero emerges, devoted to serving his beloved.
Structure
Amadis narrates the story of a hero thrown into a river at birth and raised by a nobleman. As a young knight, he seeks his origins, embarking on numerous adventures.
Protagonist
Amadis embodies heroic and lyrical qualities, the prototype of the invincible, chivalrous, and noble hero.
Style
Written in elegant and courteous prose, characterized by clarity and simplicity in narration. It features Romanized syntax, using the present participle.
Moorish Novel
An idealistic genre created in Spain, based on the final episodes of the Reconquista, often set in Granada. Characters embody nobility, courage, and beauty. Notable works include the anonymous History of Abencerraje and the Beautiful Jarifa and Pérez de Hita’s Civil Wars of Granada.
The Short Story or Italian: Juan de Timoneda (El Patrañuelo)
The Pastoral Novel
Reaching its peak in the late 16th century, this novel features poetic traits, virtuous shepherd protagonists in idyllic landscapes, elegant prose with lyricism, and diverse poetic meters. Key works include Jorge de Montemayor’s The Seven Books of Diana, Gaspar Gil Polo’s Diana Enamorada, Miguel de Cervantes’s La Galatea, and Lope de Vega’s La Arcadia.
Byzantine or Pilgrim Novel
Narrating adventures culminating in the reunion of lovers or family, a representative work is Cervantes’s The Travails of Persiles and Sigismunda.
Picaresque Novel
A realistic Spanish genre featuring a rogue protagonist of low social class. The novel has an open structure with episodic adventures, employing realism and satire to critique society. It often includes inserted stories and folk elements.
Lazarillo de Tormes
Authorship
Several writers are considered potential authors, including Fray Juan de Ortega, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, the Valdés brothers, and Sebastián de Orozco.
Structure
Comprising a prologue and seven treatises, the novel is addressed to “Vuestra Merced.” The first three treatises shape Lázaro’s personality, while from the fourth, his social ascent begins. Lázaro narrates through memory.
Themes
Key themes include honor, hunger, and religion.
Characters
Notable characters include the blind man, the cleric of Maqueda, the impoverished squire, the friar, the pardoner, the chaplain, and the Archpriest of San Salvador.
Style
Characterized by simplicity, expressive agility, phatic function, colloquialisms, proverbs, antitheses, paradoxes, and euphemisms.