El buscón
Original 1626 title page of El Buscón.
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| Author | Francisco de Quevedo |
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| Original title | Historia de la vida del Buscón, llamado Don Pablos, ejemplo de vagamundos y espejo de tacaños |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
| Genre | Picaresque, Satire |
| Publisher | Pedro Verges |
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Publication date
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1626 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
El Buscón (full title Historia de la vida del Buscón, llamado Don Pablos, ejemplo de vagamundos y espejo de tacaños (literally: History of the life of the Swindler, called Don Pablos, model for hobos and mirror of misers); translated as Paul the Sharper or The Scavenger and The Swindler) is a picaresque novel by Francisco de Quevedo. It was written around 1604 (the exact date of completion is not known) and published in 1626 by a press in Zaragoza (without Quevedo's permission), though it had circulated in manuscript form previous to that.
The only novel written by Quevedo, it is presented in the first person singular and chronicles the adventures of Don Pablos, a buscón or swindler. Pablos sets out in life with two aims: to learn virtue and to become a caballero (gentleman). He fails miserably in both.
El Buscón has been considered a profound satire on Spanish life, but also as a literary exercise for Quevedo, in that he was able to utilize word-play and verbal flourishes and his skill as a literary caricaturist.El Buscón also propounds the notion that children of parents without honor will never be able to achieve honor themselves.
C. Brian Morris has written that Quevedo pursues Pablos with a series of "desgracias...encadenadas" ("linked calamities"). James Iffland describes these "linked calamities" as a "torturously up and down, bouncing trajectory which marks Pablos's career from the outset."
Quevedo satirizes Spanish society, but also attacks Pablos himself, who attempts throughout the novel to achieve a higher station in life and become a gentleman. Such aspirations from the lower classes would only destabilize the social order, in Quevedo's eyes. Quevedo punishes Pablos for attempting to better himself. "For Pablos, human society is the only reality. He knows no other. He is young, innocent, a little foolish." Eventually, Pablos is driven to become a pícaro, or rogue.
The work also incorporates autobiographical elements. In 1608, Quevedo dueled with the writer and fencing master Luis Pacheco de Narváez as a result of Quevedo criticizing one of his works. Quevedo took off Pacheco's hat in the first encounter. They were enemies all their lives. In El Buscón, this duel is parodied with a fencer relying on mathematical calculations having to run away from a duel with an experienced soldier.
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