Line #60 Main/Picaresque


1	[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/el_lazarillo_de_tormes_de_goya.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:200:''Before the blind man could withdraw his long nose that was choking [[UrExample Lazarillo]], his stomach revolted and discharged the stolen goods in his face, so that his nose and that hastily-chewed sausage left his mouth at the same time'']]
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4	Picaresque is a genre of usually {{satir\|e}}ic {{prose fiction}} originating in Spain and depicting in realistic, often humorous detail the adventures of a [[LoveableRogue roguish hero]] of low social degree living by his or her wits in a corrupt society.
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6	A traditional picaresque is often a ShaggyDogStory and/or has a RandomEventsPlot. Elements of the picaresque frequently show up in {{Cyberpunk}} stories. The plots are often episodic, and there's very little in the vein of a main quest narrative, and as such most picaresque narratives usually have a few stock characters who weave in and weave out.
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8	!! Examples:
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10	[[foldercontrol]]
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12	[[folder: Film ]]
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14	* All of the Film/DollarsTrilogy, especially ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''.
15	* ''Film/ForrestGump'', though the novel is much more clearly in the genre than the movie.
16	* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'' and ''[[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. II]]'': Both films contain elements of the genre, especially with the episodic plotlines (either film can be watched without any context from the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe), the roguish protagonists (the Guardians have their own individual charges but as of their inception, they are technically mercenaries) and comedic overtones.
17	* ''Film/LittleBigMan''.
18	* ''Film/OLuckyMan'': A deeply cynical film about how humans are craven and selfish, with a protagonist who's buffeted by events, wandering through a RandomEventsPlot in which he has a series of bizarre adventures. Like blundering into an Army base where he's arrested as a spy, or volunteering to be a subject for a medical experiment only to find that it's a MadScientist's lair and the mad scientist is creating freakish pig-men.
19	* ''Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou'', about three buffoonish escaped criminals stumbling from adventure to adventure
20	* ''Film/TheJourneyOfNattyGann'' is about a teenage girl travelling across America during TheGreatDepression, getting into scrapes and adventures along the way
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24	[[folder: Literature ]]
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26	* ''Literature/LazarilloDeTormes'' is generally considered the first of this genre.
27	* ''Literature/DonQuixote'' has some elements of this genre and is seen as picareque by non-Spanish speakers for its episodic plot and its NestedStory sequence. Spanish-speakers feel it's more an inversion[[note]]They note that as a hidalgo and aristocrat, Don Quixote/Alonso Quijano is not a typical picaresque character who comes from the low-orders. They also note that Don Quixote has an idealistic view and goal, he's out to help the innocents and defend the weak as a knight should, rather than con and cheat to survive. More or less the quest of Don Quixote is to try and remain idealistic, or insanely so, while the world grows more roguish, more cruel, and sadistic as the plot goes on[[/note]].
28	* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn''
29	* ''Literature/MollFlanders''
30	* ''Literature/{{Candide}}''
31	* ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces''
32	* ''Literature/ConfessionsOfFelixKrull''
33	* The ''Literature/DyingEarth'' series by Creator/JackVance
34	* ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun'' by Creator/GeneWolfe
35	* The ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' series
36	* ''[[Literature/{{Simplicissimus}} Simplicius Simplicissimus]]'' (the English title of ''Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus''), one of the earliest true novels in the German language.
37	* ''The Unfortunate Traveller: or, the Life of Jack Wilton'' (1594) by Thomas Nashe.
38	* ''Literature/CloudAtlas'': [[InUniverse Somni]] describes 'The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish' as such.
39	* ''Literature/LifeOfPi''
40	* ''Literature/{{Middlesex}}''
41	* ''Literature/{{Baudolino}}''
42	* ''Literature/TheSatyricon''
43	* [[Literature/FlyByNightSeries ''Fly by Night'' and ''Fly Trap/Twilight Robbery'']] by Creator/FrancesHardinge
44	* The Rincewind books in the Literature/{{Discworld}} series. Rincewind is basically just a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold (mostly) selfish coward]] who travels around trying to survive the weird stuff happening around him.
45	* ''Literature/TheReivers'', in which a roguish stablehand steals his boss's automobile and drives it from small-town Mississippi to Memphis in order to talk a prostitute into marrying him.
46	* ''Literature/TheGoodSoldierSvejk'': RandomEventsPlot centered on the certified idiot surviving by ObfuscatingStupidity (or real one -- the jury's still out) and tall tales he tells.
47	* ''Literature/UnderTheNet''
48	* ''Literature/{{Quillifer}}'' by Creator/WalterJonWilliams. The title character is an ambitious LovableRogue trying to better himself amidst a civil war while plagued by an angry nymph.
49	* Clive King's ''Literature/MeAndMyMillion'', a children's book; the protagonist is a dyslexic eleven-year old street kid who finds himself lost in London with a stolen painting.
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52	[[folder: Music ]]
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54	* The ''Franchise/CodeGeass'' OST song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yilokJERZRE Picaresque]] (which could [[http://atashi.wordpress.com/2007/03/25/code-geass-lelouch-of-the-rebellion-insert-song-pikaresuku/ double as an ImageSong for Lelouch]]) is probably named for this genre, considering the kind of world that Lelouch lives in, and his own way of fighting it.
55	* Music/TheDecemberists' album ''Picaresque''.
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59	[[folder: Theatre ]]
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61	* ''Theatre/MotherCourageAndHerChildren'' by Creator/BertoltBrecht, set in the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar, based on ''Landstörtzerin Courasche'', another novel by the author of ''Literature/{{Simplicissimus}}''.
62	* ''Theatre/PeerGynt'', with occasional LowFantasy elements.
63	* ''Stop the World--I Want to Get Off''
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65	[[/folder]]
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67	[[folder: Video Games ]]
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69	* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and its episodes (particularly 2) features a fairly episodic plot as Gordon drives around the eastern European coast, encountering a variety of self-contained side stories and vignettes. Episode 2 in particular features a wider variety of social commentary thanks to its greater cross section of characters of differing social standing.
70	* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': High school JapaneseDelinquents become {{Picaresque}} thieves to {{Heel Face Brainwash\|ing}} the corrupt, while referencing quite a lot of other Picaresque stories.
71	* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' has elements of this. The protagonist and their family are refugees in the city of Kirkwall, simply trying to make their way in the world for most of the game. Over time, as the main character becomes more important and powerful within the city, a main story arc does emerge from the big world-shaking events you sometimes have to deal with, but the bulk of the story is spent on subplots and side adventures.
72	* ''VideoGame/TheProcessionToCalvary'' is the story of a SociopathicSoldier getting into various surreal situations and outsmarting characters in a journey across CrapSackWorld.
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76	[[folder: Web Original ]]
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78	* ''Literature/DeeperUpTheTower'' uses this episodic, chaotic, somewhat whimsical style to tell a story of Florian, a knight wandering through the trippy, magical Tower, having dream-like adventures on the way.
79	* ''Literature/TheLayOfPaulTwister'' mixes elements of this genre in with HighFantasy and TrappedInAnotherWorld.
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81	[[/folder]]
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83	[[folder: Western Animation ]]
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85	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has many elements of the picaresque genre: Both Homer and Bart are notorious underperformers who avoid hard work and shirk their duties whenever possible, are generally irresponsible, treat their fellow men shabbily and take refuge to lies when it suits them, all the while being not especially bright. Yet they somehow always manage to avoid all serious consequences of their foolishness or egoism and are likable characters despite their many flaws.
86	[[/folder]]

Context Main / Picaresque