Mexican picaresque narratives

Abstract

Many Mexican narratives feature characteristics associated with the picaresque. Eight texts in particular seem to belong to the subgenre. All eight have the following attributes: their structure is episodic; a single protagonist provides the only link between episodes; he survives by cunning in a world marked by hunger and physical deprivation; he serves many masters and/or acts in many roles; he is generally alienated; and he meets many characters which form a gallery of human types. Notwithstanding these traits in common, each text is a unique member of the picaresque family.

Naufraqios (1542), Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's account of his journey through North America, is a forerunner of the subgenre. Infortunios de Alonso Ramirez (1690), the life story of the person Alonso Ramirez, narrated by Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora, employs narrative techniques which elicit readers' sympathy and caused the Viceroy to reward Ramirez with financial compensation. Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi wrote both El Periquillo Sarniento (1816) and Don Catrin de la Fachenda (1832). Dr. Purgante and several other secondary characters in the Periquillo are memorable because of the author's skillful use of colorful names, physical description, and speech peculiarities. Don Catrin is successful due largely to irony arising from the substantial distance between the implied author and the narrator. The protagonist of La vida inutil de Pito Perez (1938) by Jose Ruben Romero, though previously considered a simpleton, proves to be a complex character. El Canillitas (1941) by Artemio de Valle-Arizpe, set in Colonial Mexico, is filled with humor, including humorous names and nicknames, amusing comparisons, and comic episodes. Hasta no verte Jesus mio (1969), by Elena Poniatoska, chronicles numerous events from the full life of its protagonist, but features an unexpectedly leisurely narrative pace. Because of philosophical and anecdotal digressions, readers come to know intimately the protagonist's personality. El Chanfalla (1979) by Gonzalo Martre, features many episodes, situations, and ironies which alert readers as to discrepancies between appearance and reality.

Thus, although all eight narratives share many attributes as members of the picaresque family, each is a unique artistic creation with variations in context, narrative technique, style, setting, characterization, and focus.