El Buscón
Encyclopedia
El Buscón is a picaresque novel by Francisco de Quevedo
. It was written around 1604 (the exact date of completion is not known) and published in 1626 by a press in Zaragoza
(without Quevedo's permission), though it had circulated in manuscript
form previous to that.
and chronicles the adventures of Don Pablos, a buscón or swindler. Pablos sets out in life with two aims: to learn virtue and to become a caballero (gentleman). He fails miserably at both.
El Buscón has been considered a profound satire on Spanish
life, but also as a literary exercise for Quevedo, in that he was able to utilize word-play and verbal flourishes and his skill as a literary caricaturist. El Buscón also propounds the notion that children of parents without honor will never be able to achieve honor themselves.
C. Brian Morris has written that Quevedo pursues Pablos with a series of "desgracias...encadenadas" ("linked calamities"). James Iffland describes these "linked calamities" as a "torturously up and down, bouncing trajectory which marks Pablos's career from the outset."
Quevedo satirizes Spanish society, but also attacks Pablos himself, who attempts throughout the novel to achieve a higher station in life and become a gentleman
. Such aspirations from the lower classes would only destabilize the social order, in Quevedo's eyes. Quevedo punishes Pablos for attempting to better himself. "For Pablos, human society is the only reality. He knows no other. He is young, innocent, a little foolish." Eventually, Pablos is driven to become a pícaro, or rogue.
The work also incorporates autobiographical elements. In 1608, Quevedo dueled with the writer and fencing
master Luis Pacheco de Narváez
as a result of Quevedo criticizing one of his works. Quevedo took off Pacheco's hat in the first encounter. They were enemies all their lives. In El Buscón, this duel is parodied with a fencer relying on mathematical calculations having to run away from a duel with an experienced soldier.
Quevedo makes an early references to the effects of syphilis
when he puns in his Buscón about a nose entre Roma y Francia meaning both "between Rome and France" and "between dull and eaten by the French illness".
of many sectors of society -both the language of the antihero and the criminals the antihero meets on his travels. Quevedo's novel gives a considerable amount of information about Germanía
, or Thieves' cant
.
In terms of its structure, it is divided into three books. Book One is divided into seven chapters; Book Two is divided into six chapters; Book Three has ten chapters. One scholar has argued that the structure Quevedo adopts is not one of randomness and Pablos the focus around whom a series of satirical characters and situations group. Instead, "Buscón has a unity and coherence created by something other than the hero's presence, for an orderly train of misfortunes, which connects network of recurring motifs..." These motifs include the closely related themes of family, filth, and legal and lawless cruelty.
and a thief. His mother, Aldonza, is a prostitute and a witch. It is implied that she is a Morisco
; Pablos writes: Sospechábase en el pueblo que no era cristiana vieja ("It was whispered in town that she was not an old Christian [i.e. a "new Christian," a recent convert to Christianity].") Pablos' brother, also a thief, was flogged to death in prison. Pablos wishes to go to school, and his parents agree to let him go. At school, he befriends a boy named Don Diego Coronel, but Pablos suffers various setbacks there. Pablos decides to neither return to school nor home, and remains as the friend and companion of Don Diego, who also decides to leave school. Diego’s father, Don Alonso, decides to make both boys wards of a man named Dómine Cabra, in Segovia
. The two boys suffer from hunger at the hands of Cabra. When another boy dies of starvation, Alonso removes both boys from the school and sends them off to Alcalá
to study. On their way there, they stop at an inn, where Pablos is mocked and hazed
by a group of students. At Alcalá, since Pablos is not a gentleman, he is separated from Don Diego, and is hazed and beaten by some university students. During the night, he is beaten again by four students who shared a room with him. Pablos then acts out, killing some pigs that did not belong to him, and puts on a party, tricking his landlady into giving him two chickens. He also robs some sweets from a local merchant and some swords from the rector and a justice of the peace. His friends laugh at his antics.
Pablos then receives a letter that his father has been hanged and his mother imprisoned. For his part, Don Diego receives a letter from his father stating that he does not wish for his son and Pablos to be friends. The friends separate, and Pablos decides to meet with a relative and receive an inheritance due to him as a result of his father’s death.
. They reach Cercedilla
. They play cards and the hermit tricks Pablos and the soldiers, thus getting all of the winnings. Pablos parts ways with the three, and meets up with his uncle, Alonso Ramplón, in Segovia. There is a great dinner at his uncle’s house, and everyone gets drunk, except for Pablos. While everyone is sleeping off the drink, Pablos goes for a walk. When he returns, he kicks out all of the partygoers except for his uncle, with whom he discusses his inheritance. Pablos takes leave of his uncle, and heads for Madrid, and encounters a man who claims to be a gentleman who has visited the royal court. The alleged hidalgo
gives Pablos lessons on how to behave himself at court, how to lie, how to take advantage of certain situations.
of rogues and ruffians). Pablos, still wishing to become a gentleman, is dressed in rags and patched-up clothing. He is subsequently arrested and thrown into prison, along with his new-found friends. Pablos befriends the jailer, who decides not to flog him. The jailer eventually liberates Pablos and dines with him; Pablos claims that he is a relative of the jailer’s wife. His friends, however, are flogged and exiled to Seville
.
Pablos changes his name to “Ramiro de Guzmán,” and goes to an inn. Pablos decides to pretend to be rich in order to win over the daughter of the innkeeper, Berenguela de Rebolledo. Berenguela falls for his lies and tells Pablos to visit her at night by climbing the rooftop and entering her room in this manner. Unfortunately, the roof collapses. The innkeepers wake up, and, infuriated, beat him and have him thrown into jail.
They whip him in jail, until he is liberated by two men, one from Portugal
, the other from Catalonia
, who also had their sights set on Berenguela. The two men try to arrange a marriage between Berenguela and Pablos, but Pablos encounters some rich, elderly women. Renaming himself again as “Don Felipe Tristán,” Pablos arrives at the villa where the two women reside. One of these old women, however, has three nieces, all single, and wants Pablos to marry one of them. He falls for Doña Ana, the most beautiful of the three. As they picnic, a gentleman approaches, who is none other than Don Diego. He spots Pablos without being noticed himself. Pablos plays cards with all the ladies, and wins a lot of money. The next day Don Diego confronts him, and has his old friend beaten. He is arrested by a justice of the peace and taken to an inn. Pablos remains there, until he takes to the road again with a new career: that of a beggar. He meets another beggar, Valcázar, who teaches him in this new profession. Pablos earns some money and buys new clothes, a sword, and a hat, and takes off to Toledo
, where no one will recognize him. Pablos meets up and joins a group of comedic actors, and Pablos works as a script writer for them. He takes on another new name, “Alonso el Cruel.” He writes some poetry as well. The leader of this band of actors, however, is apprehended by the police. The group is dispersed and Pablos abandons this profession and falls in love with a nun. He goes to mass frequently to see her; the nun ignores him. He travels to Seville, where he joins a group of thieves. The thieves go out to drink and eat together, and become intoxicated. When they return home, they are stopped by the police, who kill one of the thieves. The others disperse and are not caught, but Pablos and the other thieves decide to try their luck in the Indies
, to see if their luck will change. Pablos tells us, at the end of the novel, that things in the Americas
went even worse for him there.
(1602-1638) issued a pirated edition of Buscón, which roused an angry controversy. In 1882 the publication of Daniel Vierge's
edition of Buscón brought the technique of photo-reproduction to a high level of finish.
A film version of the novel was made in 1979. It was directed by Luciano Berriatúa and starred Francisco Algora
as Pablos. It also starred Ana Belén
and Francisco Rabal
.
Francisco de Quevedo
Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, Quevedo was one of the most prominent Spanish poets of the age. His style is characterized by what was called conceptismo...
. It was written around 1604 (the exact date of completion is not known) and published in 1626 by a press in Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
(without Quevedo's permission), though it had circulated in manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
form previous to that.
Purpose of the work
The only novel written by Quevedo, it is presented in the first person singularFirst Person Singular
First Person Singular is a play by Lewis Grant Wallace. The play tells the story of a convoluted affair between an eminent old novelist and a resentful younger writer. The work premiered at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End of London on 4 February 1952. The cast included Irene Handl as...
and chronicles the adventures of Don Pablos, a buscón or swindler. Pablos sets out in life with two aims: to learn virtue and to become a caballero (gentleman). He fails miserably at both.
El Buscón has been considered a profound satire on Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
life, but also as a literary exercise for Quevedo, in that he was able to utilize word-play and verbal flourishes and his skill as a literary caricaturist. El Buscón also propounds the notion that children of parents without honor will never be able to achieve honor themselves.
C. Brian Morris has written that Quevedo pursues Pablos with a series of "desgracias...encadenadas" ("linked calamities"). James Iffland describes these "linked calamities" as a "torturously up and down, bouncing trajectory which marks Pablos's career from the outset."
Quevedo satirizes Spanish society, but also attacks Pablos himself, who attempts throughout the novel to achieve a higher station in life and become a gentleman
Gentleman
The term gentleman , in its original and strict signification, denoted a well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus...
. Such aspirations from the lower classes would only destabilize the social order, in Quevedo's eyes. Quevedo punishes Pablos for attempting to better himself. "For Pablos, human society is the only reality. He knows no other. He is young, innocent, a little foolish." Eventually, Pablos is driven to become a pícaro, or rogue.
The work also incorporates autobiographical elements. In 1608, Quevedo dueled with the writer and fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
master Luis Pacheco de Narváez
Luis Pacheco de Narváez
Don Luis Pacheco de Narváez was a Spanish writer on fencing. He was don Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza's student and later published a multitude of works based on the Destreza school of fencing. Some of his works were compendiums of Carranza's work while others were less derivative.He may be the...
as a result of Quevedo criticizing one of his works. Quevedo took off Pacheco's hat in the first encounter. They were enemies all their lives. In El Buscón, this duel is parodied with a fencer relying on mathematical calculations having to run away from a duel with an experienced soldier.
Quevedo makes an early references to the effects of syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
when he puns in his Buscón about a nose entre Roma y Francia meaning both "between Rome and France" and "between dull and eaten by the French illness".
Linguistic significance
Picaresque works are valuable linguistically because they record the argotArgot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
of many sectors of society -both the language of the antihero and the criminals the antihero meets on his travels. Quevedo's novel gives a considerable amount of information about Germanía
Germanía
Germanía is the Spanish term for the argot used by criminals or in jails in Spain during 15th and 16th centuries. Its purpose is to keep outsiders out of the conversation...
, or Thieves' cant
Thieves' cant
Thieves' cant or Rogues' cant was a secret language which was formerly used by thieves, beggars and hustlers of various kinds in Great Britain and to a lesser extent in other English-speaking countries...
.
Structure and plot
Book One
Pablos is first introduced as a child. His father, Clemente Pablo, is a barberBarber
A barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....
and a thief. His mother, Aldonza, is a prostitute and a witch. It is implied that she is a Morisco
Morisco
Moriscos or Mouriscos , meaning "Moorish", were the converted Christian inhabitants of Spain and Portugal of Muslim heritage. Over time the term was used in a pejorative sense applied to those nominal Catholics who were suspected of secretly practicing Islam.-Demographics:By the beginning of the...
; Pablos writes: Sospechábase en el pueblo que no era cristiana vieja ("It was whispered in town that she was not an old Christian [i.e. a "new Christian," a recent convert to Christianity].") Pablos' brother, also a thief, was flogged to death in prison. Pablos wishes to go to school, and his parents agree to let him go. At school, he befriends a boy named Don Diego Coronel, but Pablos suffers various setbacks there. Pablos decides to neither return to school nor home, and remains as the friend and companion of Don Diego, who also decides to leave school. Diego’s father, Don Alonso, decides to make both boys wards of a man named Dómine Cabra, in Segovia
Segovia
Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of Segovia Province in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated north of Madrid, 30 minutes by high speed train. The municipality counts some 55,500 inhabitants.-Etymology:...
. The two boys suffer from hunger at the hands of Cabra. When another boy dies of starvation, Alonso removes both boys from the school and sends them off to Alcalá
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
to study. On their way there, they stop at an inn, where Pablos is mocked and hazed
Hazing
Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....
by a group of students. At Alcalá, since Pablos is not a gentleman, he is separated from Don Diego, and is hazed and beaten by some university students. During the night, he is beaten again by four students who shared a room with him. Pablos then acts out, killing some pigs that did not belong to him, and puts on a party, tricking his landlady into giving him two chickens. He also robs some sweets from a local merchant and some swords from the rector and a justice of the peace. His friends laugh at his antics.
Pablos then receives a letter that his father has been hanged and his mother imprisoned. For his part, Don Diego receives a letter from his father stating that he does not wish for his son and Pablos to be friends. The friends separate, and Pablos decides to meet with a relative and receive an inheritance due to him as a result of his father’s death.
Book Two
On his way to Segovia to claim his inheritance, Pablos encounters a slightly mad engineer. They converse on various topics. They stay at an inn, and Pablos encounters a teacher there, who attempts to give him a lesson. Pablos and the engineer part ways. The next day, Pablos comes across an old cleric, also mad, and they eat dinner at an inn. They also part ways. Pablos continues on his journey, coming across a soldier with terrible wounds, as well as a hermitHermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
. They reach Cercedilla
Cercedilla
Cercedilla is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain. It is located in the Sierra de Guadarrama. It was the hometown of Francisco Fernández Ochoa , an alpine ski racer known for being the first Spaniard to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. He won the slalom in 1972 in Japan...
. They play cards and the hermit tricks Pablos and the soldiers, thus getting all of the winnings. Pablos parts ways with the three, and meets up with his uncle, Alonso Ramplón, in Segovia. There is a great dinner at his uncle’s house, and everyone gets drunk, except for Pablos. While everyone is sleeping off the drink, Pablos goes for a walk. When he returns, he kicks out all of the partygoers except for his uncle, with whom he discusses his inheritance. Pablos takes leave of his uncle, and heads for Madrid, and encounters a man who claims to be a gentleman who has visited the royal court. The alleged hidalgo
Hidalgo (Spanish nobility)
A hidalgo or fidalgo is a member of the Spanish and Portuguese nobility. In popular usage it has come to mean the non-titled nobility. Hidalgos were exempt from paying taxes, but did not necessarily own real property...
gives Pablos lessons on how to behave himself at court, how to lie, how to take advantage of certain situations.
Book Three
Pablos and the alleged gentleman arrive at the house of Don Toribio Rodríguez Vallejo Gómez de Ampuerto y Jordán, who also claims to be a gentleman. At this house, Pablos encounters various cheats and liars, a cofradía de pícaros y rufianes (confraternityConfraternity
A confraternity is normally a Roman Catholic or Orthodox organization of lay people created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy...
of rogues and ruffians). Pablos, still wishing to become a gentleman, is dressed in rags and patched-up clothing. He is subsequently arrested and thrown into prison, along with his new-found friends. Pablos befriends the jailer, who decides not to flog him. The jailer eventually liberates Pablos and dines with him; Pablos claims that he is a relative of the jailer’s wife. His friends, however, are flogged and exiled to Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
.
Pablos changes his name to “Ramiro de Guzmán,” and goes to an inn. Pablos decides to pretend to be rich in order to win over the daughter of the innkeeper, Berenguela de Rebolledo. Berenguela falls for his lies and tells Pablos to visit her at night by climbing the rooftop and entering her room in this manner. Unfortunately, the roof collapses. The innkeepers wake up, and, infuriated, beat him and have him thrown into jail.
They whip him in jail, until he is liberated by two men, one from Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, the other from Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, who also had their sights set on Berenguela. The two men try to arrange a marriage between Berenguela and Pablos, but Pablos encounters some rich, elderly women. Renaming himself again as “Don Felipe Tristán,” Pablos arrives at the villa where the two women reside. One of these old women, however, has three nieces, all single, and wants Pablos to marry one of them. He falls for Doña Ana, the most beautiful of the three. As they picnic, a gentleman approaches, who is none other than Don Diego. He spots Pablos without being noticed himself. Pablos plays cards with all the ladies, and wins a lot of money. The next day Don Diego confronts him, and has his old friend beaten. He is arrested by a justice of the peace and taken to an inn. Pablos remains there, until he takes to the road again with a new career: that of a beggar. He meets another beggar, Valcázar, who teaches him in this new profession. Pablos earns some money and buys new clothes, a sword, and a hat, and takes off to Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, where no one will recognize him. Pablos meets up and joins a group of comedic actors, and Pablos works as a script writer for them. He takes on another new name, “Alonso el Cruel.” He writes some poetry as well. The leader of this band of actors, however, is apprehended by the police. The group is dispersed and Pablos abandons this profession and falls in love with a nun. He goes to mass frequently to see her; the nun ignores him. He travels to Seville, where he joins a group of thieves. The thieves go out to drink and eat together, and become intoxicated. When they return home, they are stopped by the police, who kill one of the thieves. The others disperse and are not caught, but Pablos and the other thieves decide to try their luck in the Indies
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
, to see if their luck will change. Pablos tells us, at the end of the novel, that things in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
went even worse for him there.
Editions of the work
The father of Juan Pérez de MontalbánJuan Pérez de Montalbán
Juan Pérez de Montalbán , Spanish Catholic priest, dramatist, poet and novelist, was born at Madrid.At the age of eighteen he became a licentiate in theology, was ordained priest in 1625 and appointed notary to the Inquisition...
(1602-1638) issued a pirated edition of Buscón, which roused an angry controversy. In 1882 the publication of Daniel Vierge's
Daniel Vierge
Daniel Vierge was a Spanish-born French illustrator who with the photo-engraver Gillot revolutionized the reproduction of illustrations. In 1882 the publication of his edition of Francisco de Quevedo's Historia de la vida del Buscón llamado don Pablos brought the technique of photo-reproduction...
edition of Buscón brought the technique of photo-reproduction to a high level of finish.
Adaptations
Francisco Algora
Francisco Algora is a Spanish actor. He has appeared in 95 films and television shows since 1972. He starred in the 1973 film Habla, mudita, which was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
as Pablos. It also starred Ana Belén
Ana Belén
Ana Belén is the artistic name of María del Pilar Cuesta Acosta, a Spanish actress and singer. She was born on 27 May 1951 in Madrid.- Biography :...
and Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal , perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain....
.
External links
Historia de la vida del Buscón llamado Don Pablos Full Cybertext of LA HISTORIA DE LA VIDA DEL BUSCON Chapter-by-chapter summary Facsimile 1626 edition Commentary on work’s intent Censorship in Quevedo and El Buscón Page on Quevedo, Universidad de Santiago de CompostelaSantiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...