Chapman University
In this thought-provoking, comprehensive, well-researched and well-
written book, Anne J. Cruz studies the divergent discourses that emerged in
early modern Spain in response to increasing numbers of marginalized poor,
equally focusing on fictional (picaresque) and non-fictional texts, on literary
and extra-literary sources. The use of Foucauldian social paradigms allows
Cruz to move not only beyond formalist parameters but also beyond strict
sociological and moralist approaches as she views the picaresque's dialectical
engagement with the multiple conditions that generated its appearance. In
Cruz's own words, by analyzing the narratives as «cultural discourses rather
than solely literary artifacts»
she is able «to foreground the pressing questions
of poverty, delinquency, vagrancy, and prostitution embedded in the novels»
(xiii). Following along parallel lines the development of the genre and the
evolution of the country, Cruz concludes that the end of the picaresque
coincides with the decline of Hapsburg Imperial rule and that the
«last» picaresque novel -Estebanillo González- «records both failed history and
the failure of history»
(xvii).
Each chapter contains three sections that integrate penetrating discussions of specific literary texts (picaresque novels) with assessments of other
documents and issues relevant to the book's main topic: poverty and social
reform. Chapter 1 discusses Lazarillo as a tale that explores the relationship
between society and its poor, in this case the growing numbers of vagabonds
and beggars who invaded the emerging urban centers in sixteenth-century
Spain and led to an increase in criminality as well as the «later conflation of
the poor with the delinquent»
(5). In the section entitled «Lepers and
Liminality» Cruz states that, as the number of lepers began to dwindle at the
end of the Middle Ages, their traditional role as «other» was taken by
marginal groups -conversos, moriscos, loose women, pícaros-, that is to say, the
disenfranchised and dispossessed. The unrelenting poverty and persistent
hunger that mark Lazarillo's narrative and contribute to its structural cohesion
—153→
also match inescapable social realities. Cruz further elaborates on and
supports her textual analysis in the following section («Mid-Sixteenth-Century Debates on Poverty: Soto versus Robles») which examines some of
the serious debates taking place at the time on how to view and deal with the
plight of the poor; in particular, the conflicting positions held by the
Dominican Domingo de Soto and the Benedictine Juan de Robles are
carefully reviewed and the questions they raise insightfully linked to
Lazarillo's ambiguity, the marked ambivalence displayed by the author in
presenting his concerns regarding poverty and its treatment.
Chapter 2 examines economic treatises and their influence on contemporary thinking on the poor. Cruz argues that pauperism had previously been seen as mostly a moral problem to be solved through personalized charity within a religious context but that, in the mid-16th century, a more systematic, better organized approach to poor-relief began to be favored, an approach that opposed incipient bourgeois rationalism to aristocratic values. The following sections (separate but closely related) explore secularization and social containment, Miguel de Giginta's synchretic reform movement (which attempted to reconcile confinement with a certain degree of freedom for the poor) and Cristóbal Pérez de Herrera's visionary and totalizing reform projects (which addressed economic and social issues as well as moral and spiritual concerns).
Chapter 3 («The Picaresque as Pharmakos)» is mostly devoted to Alemán's
Guzmán de Alfarache and to its eponymous protagonist, the first formally so-
named pícaro who, in the text, plays the role of pharmakos, «at once responsible
for and sacrificed to the country's social and economic degradation»
(79).
According to Cruz, the writer's converso origins might have fostered his
reformist ideals and strengthened his ideological ties with a group of arbitristas that included Pérez de Herrera, whose social philosophy Alemán seems
to share. Also influencing Alemán were the debates on divine grace and free
will so operative in defining Guzmán's character in Part One, while Part Two
addresses the «'false' poor threat to the social body»
(93) following the lead
of Cellorigo's treatise Restauración de estado. The next section in this chapter
reviews Alemán's defense of mercantilism and again emphasizes the pícaro's
role «as the expiatory element in the narrative, as the scapegoat that must be
sacrificed to safeguard the nation-state»
(106). From here Cruz moves on to
explore in depth several critics' views on the reader's role in picaresque
fiction. Cruz's conclusion -that the need to control the reader might offer the
best explanation for the abundance of prologue literature in modern
Spain- is both perceptive and convincing.
Chapter 4 («Textualizing the Other's Body») focuses on Quevedo's
Buscón and reviews diverse interpretive approaches to that picaresque novel,
ranging from the theological (Pablos as sinner) to the aesthetic (the text as
«dazzling fireworks»). For Cruz, Quevedo's fascination with the socially
marginalized manifests itself in the depiction of Pablos and his cohorts, but
—154→
does not negate the writer's allegiance to the dominant order. Though
concern for the poor is not the main inspiration for the narrative, Cruz
believes that the «text's unspoken message»
(123) conveys the threatening
presence of multiple «others» (conversos, moriscos, vagabonds, etc.) and
expresses a generalized fear of all the unwanted elements in the social body.
In the following sections, Cruz considers the significance of scatology in the
Buscón (applying and elaborating on Bakhtinian models) and sees it as an
effective way to highlight chaos and social disease. Most interesting is the
section on «Pícaras as Prostitutes» with its excellent analysis of how the female
picaresque differs from its male counterparts and why the pícara is almost
always presented as a prostitute. The male-dominated and male-oriented
discourse in female picaresque texts clearly shows the extent of authorial
control over the protagonist who is relegated to a «primarily sexualized role»
(144). In the final section of this chapter, Cruz deals with issues of misogyny,
male voice-over and female enclosure as she engages in detailed analysis of
La Celestina, La lozana andaluza, and La pícara Justina, among others, and
concludes that in all these texts, woman's voice is suppressed, woman's
sexuality denounced as a disruptive element, and woman's very existence
seen as a «necessary evil» requiring constant vigilance and control by the
(male) establishment.
Chapter 5 -last in the book- examines the evolution «From Pícaro to
Soldier» and the way in which picaresque narratives expand their angle of
vision by following the pícaro's exploits as he leaves the Spanish countryside
and moves on to larger spaces (what Cruz calls «the Hapsburg theaters of
war» [164]). Cruz's valid argument to justify the inclusion of soldiers' tales in
the picaresque canon reflects the basic thrust of her book, namely the
intersection of literary with non-literary texts and their location within a
specific socio-historical context. (She appropriately reminds us that a term
often given as the etymological root of pícaro has to do with «piker», a soldier
carrying a pike/pica). As she surveys a variety of soldiers' stories, Cruz points
out both what connects them with and separates them from more traditional
picaresque narratives: they all respond to issues of poverty and vagrancy, but
soldiers' tales lack the picaresque's ironic critical perspective. That's not the
case, though, with Vida del Capitán Alonso de Contreras (a «transitional
narrative»
[199]) and even less with Estebanillo González (which «retains the
ambiguity and irony inherent in the conventional picaresque genre»
[201]).
Yet -Cruz affirms- the increasing popularity of this genre eventually
domesticated its subversive nature and diminished its satirical power so that,
as the reality of Spain's decadence became «painfully manifest in the streets»
(206), it ceased to appear in writing. As the Thirty Years War ended, the
picaresque novel also came to an end in Spain, though it continued to
develop and flourish in other parts of Europe and the New World.
Also in Chapter 5, and while discussing Michael Murrin's studies on
military advancements and their far-reaching impact during the Renaissance,
—155→
Cruz refers to Cervantes' participation in the battle of Lepanto and to his
assessment of new military technology. Don Quixote's denunciation of
firearms and gunpowder conveys -according to Cruz- «his author's ironic
criticism»
which extends to «warfare's elitist constellation... and to the
egotistical self-serving motives behind men's military aspirations»
(166).
Although Cruz, following current critical opinion, does not place any of
Cervantes' texts within the picaresque canon, her analysis of how literary
genres intersect not only with each other but also with non-literary discourses
and, particularly, of how historical changes -in this case, in methods of
warfare- influence generic development, helps us to understand more fully
Cervantes' own experience as a soldier and the way in which it affected his
work as a writer and his own distinctive engagement with the picaresque
itself.
Anne J. Cruz displays a solid grasp of relevant scholarship as well as of the latest critical theories. Skillfully blending the literary (texts), the non-literary (documents), and the historical (facts), Cruz's book represents a very valuable contribution to the study of picaresque texts and the picaresque tradition.