Meaning & use
picaresque novel
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Meanings
nouncountableliterary
A type of novel that follows the adventures of a dishonest but likable lower-class hero who survives by his wits.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a picaresque novel' or 'two picaresque novels'.
Patterns
- a picaresque novel about someone
- write a picaresque novel
- the picaresque novel tradition
Her latest book is a picaresque novel about a young con artist traveling through Spain.
The course covers the picaresque novel from its origins to modern variations.
Critics praised the picaresque novel for its lively, episodic structure.
nounsingularliterary
The literary genre or tradition of such novels, especially as it developed in Spain and later in Europe.
Grammar: Used with 'the' to refer to the genre as a whole: 'the picaresque novel'.
Patterns
- the picaresque novel
- the rise of the picaresque novel
- a master of the picaresque novel
Scholars often trace the picaresque novel back to sixteenth-century Spain.
The picaresque novel influenced later writers such as Dickens and Twain.
She wrote her thesis on the picaresque novel in Latin America.
Word forms
| plural | picaresque novels |
|---|
Common combinations
- picaresque hero
- The picaresque hero is usually an outsider who lives by his wits.
- picaresque tradition
- The film draws on the picaresque tradition of road movies.
- picaresque adventures
- The novel recounts the picaresque adventures of a runaway servant.
- picaresque elements
- The story contains picaresque elements, such as a series of comic mishaps.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rogue narrative
- A more technical term for a story centered on a rogue; 'picaresque novel' is the more common and widely understood phrase.
- adventure novel
- Broader and less specific: an adventure novel may have a heroic main character, while a picaresque novel focuses on a low-born, roguish one.
Word family
- picaresque adjective
- Describing a style or work that belongs to this genre.
- picaro noun
- The roguish main character in a picaresque novel; a rascal or adventurer.
Commonly confused: picaresque novel or picturesque?
picaresque novel vs picturesque
Picturesque means charming or pretty, like a scene in a painting. Picaresque refers to a type of novel about a rogue, so the two are very different despite sounding similar.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'picaresque novel' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option C correctly describes a novel about a roguish, low-born hero. Option An is wrong because a picaresque novel is not a poem about nature. Option B confuses 'picaresque' with 'picturesque' (charming, like a picture). Option D treats the term as a physical object, which is incorrect.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “picaresque novel”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.