Paradigmen des pikaresken in kumpfmüllers hampels fluchten (2000), terézia moras alle tage (2004) dimitré dinevs engelszungen (2003) und helmut kraussers fette welt (1992)

Spain is the birthplace of the picaresque novel. Via the modern picaro in Kumpfmüller‘s
Hampels Fluchten (2000), Terézia Mora‘s Alle Tage (2004) Dimitré Dinev‘s
Engelszungen (2003) and Helmut Krausser’s Fette Welt (1992), we have reached
the picaresque myth, the farthest extension of the essential picaresque situation,
which can be characterized as the paradigmatic confrontation between an isolated
individual and a hostil situation. The picaresque genre is a continuum where the
writers’ particular appropriation of picaresque texts and the readers expectations of
the genre interact. He is an outcast, even if this role is the character’s own choice
rather than one imposed on him by society. The genre also respondes to formal
innovations as the novel itself evolves, and the originally narrative structure is often
replaced by approaches that are not even strictly biographical and by the introduction
of multiple narrative voices (e.g. in Mora’s Alle Tage). All the novels analyzed in
the essay describe a young man of humble extraction who seeks to improve his lot
against all kinds of obstacles - and the reader has to decide whether the modern pìcaro
is primarily an upstart, a wanderer or a swindler.The initial goal of rising in society,
which characterizes the original Spanish pícaros, remains a constant though the
means of achieving that end, and the nature of the pícaro continually changes with
the evolution of the socio-economic and ideological climate in each age and country.
Although he is now seen sympathetically, the contemporary pícaro continues to be,
however, someone living at the margins of society.

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picaresque novel ,

modern pìcaro as an upstart ,

a wanderer and a swindler ,