Lazarillo De Tormes: Summary And Analysis

Lazarillo De Tormes, at the time, was something new that struck the attention of Spain as a whole and later worldwide. The novel starting a new genre in itself, "picaresque." The change of the typical manly knight storyline had been overused and this novel was exactly what everyone needed. The novel was so far ahead of its time that in 1559 a lot of the content that shed bad light on priesthood was cut, until the full version released in the 19th century.

The author was not clear for a long time, but evidence suggests that Mendoza was the original writer. The origin of the story is not clear and there are older pieces of work that have huge similarities with the story line. Some of the works that relate to the story are bible characters, folk

stories, manuscripts, and plays. Some suggest that the storyline is based on what sixteenth-century Spain was like; which is not far fetched, because of the mess Charles I had created with the war debt. Spain is seen as a country with unworthy men and affair having priests, but other writers suggest that this is not a correct depiction of sixteenth century Spain.
Claudio Guillen suggest that time is a constant theme throughout the story; as his conditions improve, time flew by faster. Some critics believe the novel is incomplete and others see it as a work of art, because you see Lazaro grow and learn from his experiences, which was something unheard of in a sixteenth century novel. Americo Castro believes that this novel lead to the success of Don Quixote. The style that was used in the original version of Lazaro De Tormes was not easily imitated as many authors tried to re-write or add to the novel. Sequels to the novel were released in 1620; Juan de Luna's version was published in Paris. In his version the same characters are involved, but their personalities alter. The main difference between both works is that Luna’s version is a more humorous version compared to the realism of the original work.
Luna does not leave the reading wondering what happened as the original version does. One example of this is when he leaves the injured blind man, we know that he is badly injured, but not whether he dies or not. His style attacks the church more directly, unlike the original version where it is hinted that the whole system is corrupt and full of bad men. Luna’s work was a hint of the seventeenth-century style of novels.