At the Margins of the Renaissance: Lazarillo de Tormes and the Picaresque Art of Survival
Published anonymously in 1554, Lazarillo de Tormes upset all the strict hierarchies that governed art and society during the Renaissance. It traces the adventures not of a nobleman or ancient hero, but rather of an ordinary man who struggles for survival in a cruel, corrupt society after growing up under the care of a blind beggar. Giancarlo Maiorino treats this picaresque narrative as a prism for exploring econopoetics, a term he uses to foreground the ways in which literary and economic modes of production feed off one another. His approach introduces readers to the turbulent world of common people of Renaissance Spain even as it affords abundant insights into the historical significance of this literary classic.

Although literary historians generally connect the rise of the novel to the needs of the middle classes of England, Maiorino demonstrates that its deepest roots are in the culture of indigence that developed at the peripheries of Renaissance society and challenged—even parodied—its authoritarian ambitions. Seen in this light, Lazarillo de Tormes emerges as a key text in understanding the novel's purchase on visions of escape from authority into alternative modes of existence.

Maiorino grounds his far-reaching arguments in recent theories of textuality and the practices of everyday life. His book will be important reading for all those concerned with the Renaissance, Spanish history and culture, and, more generally, theories of the novel.

1111668275
At the Margins of the Renaissance: Lazarillo de Tormes and the Picaresque Art of Survival
Published anonymously in 1554, Lazarillo de Tormes upset all the strict hierarchies that governed art and society during the Renaissance. It traces the adventures not of a nobleman or ancient hero, but rather of an ordinary man who struggles for survival in a cruel, corrupt society after growing up under the care of a blind beggar. Giancarlo Maiorino treats this picaresque narrative as a prism for exploring econopoetics, a term he uses to foreground the ways in which literary and economic modes of production feed off one another. His approach introduces readers to the turbulent world of common people of Renaissance Spain even as it affords abundant insights into the historical significance of this literary classic.

Although literary historians generally connect the rise of the novel to the needs of the middle classes of England, Maiorino demonstrates that its deepest roots are in the culture of indigence that developed at the peripheries of Renaissance society and challenged—even parodied—its authoritarian ambitions. Seen in this light, Lazarillo de Tormes emerges as a key text in understanding the novel's purchase on visions of escape from authority into alternative modes of existence.

Maiorino grounds his far-reaching arguments in recent theories of textuality and the practices of everyday life. His book will be important reading for all those concerned with the Renaissance, Spanish history and culture, and, more generally, theories of the novel.

34.95 In Stock
At the Margins of the Renaissance: Lazarillo de Tormes and the Picaresque Art of Survival

At the Margins of the Renaissance: Lazarillo de Tormes and the Picaresque Art of Survival

by Giancarlo Maiorino
At the Margins of the Renaissance: Lazarillo de Tormes and the Picaresque Art of Survival

At the Margins of the Renaissance: Lazarillo de Tormes and the Picaresque Art of Survival

by Giancarlo Maiorino

Paperback

$34.95 
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Overview

Published anonymously in 1554, Lazarillo de Tormes upset all the strict hierarchies that governed art and society during the Renaissance. It traces the adventures not of a nobleman or ancient hero, but rather of an ordinary man who struggles for survival in a cruel, corrupt society after growing up under the care of a blind beggar. Giancarlo Maiorino treats this picaresque narrative as a prism for exploring econopoetics, a term he uses to foreground the ways in which literary and economic modes of production feed off one another. His approach introduces readers to the turbulent world of common people of Renaissance Spain even as it affords abundant insights into the historical significance of this literary classic.

Although literary historians generally connect the rise of the novel to the needs of the middle classes of England, Maiorino demonstrates that its deepest roots are in the culture of indigence that developed at the peripheries of Renaissance society and challenged—even parodied—its authoritarian ambitions. Seen in this light, Lazarillo de Tormes emerges as a key text in understanding the novel's purchase on visions of escape from authority into alternative modes of existence.

Maiorino grounds his far-reaching arguments in recent theories of textuality and the practices of everyday life. His book will be important reading for all those concerned with the Renaissance, Spanish history and culture, and, more generally, theories of the novel.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780271058467
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Publication date: 09/15/2012
Series: Studies in Romance Literatures
Pages: 200
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Giancarlo Maiorino is Rudy Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Indiana University. He is the author of numerous books, including First Pages: A Poetics of Titles (Penn State, 2008).

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments

Illustrations

Part I In the Belly of Indigence

1. Econopoetics and the Great Chain of Handouts

Part II Starved to Death

2. The Mousetrap: The Price of Staying Alive

3. Inconspicuous Consumption: Of Toothpicks and Leftovers

Part III Out of Laceria

4. The Water Carrier: From Subsistence to Prosperity

5. The Economic Culture of Toledan Provecho

Part IV The Price of Onomastics

6. Lázaro de Tormes: What’s in a Name?

7. Will Lazarus Ever Be a Wage Earner?

Part V Dividends of the Mind

8. The Cost of Education: A Tale of Two Cities

9. The Economy of Genre

10 At the Margins: Whose Renaissance?

Works Cited

Index of Names

Index

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