The first picaresque novel, and one of the gems of Spanish literature. A brief, simply told tale of a rogue's adventures and misadventures — full of laconic cynicism and spiced with puns and wordplay. Introduction, Notes, and new English translation by Stanley Appelbaum.
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The author of O has been in the room with Barack Obama and wishes to remain anonymous.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every Young Guy Needs a Role Model...,
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This review is from: Lazarillo de Tormes (Dual-Language) (Paperback)
and mine was Simplicius Simplicissimus. But if I'd needed a second choice, it might have been Lazarillo de Tormes, the most resilient and resourceful rogue (pícaro) in Spanish literature.
The Tormes River runs (crawls, actually) below the ancient walls of Salamanca. A highway now spoils the opposite bank, but a low-maintenance path lets university types jog along the stream most of the year, and gypsies often camp there during August and September, the fair months. You can rent a canoe in Salamanca, get the operator to shuttle you some miles upstream, and paddle down to the city. With the oldest university in Spain, Salamanca is the party town of Spain during the winter. Architecturally, it ranks with Segovia as the most beautiful Renaissance city in Iberia; all the palaces and convents are built of a lovely warm ochre stone quarried locally. Little Lazarus (Lazarillo) was born in the middle of the River Tormes, in a mill operated by his father, whose sly habit of stealing grain got him arrested and sent to fight the Moors. He never returned. Lazaro's mama moved into the city and started doing laundry and other services for university students. Eventually she found an 'opportunity' for her boy, as the guide/servant of a blind beggar, a crafty but stingy rogue who taught Lazarus everything he needed to know about roguery. Even today, a guide for the blind is called a "lazarillo," and that's not the only word or image that survives in the Castillian language taken from this classic picaresque novella. Written sometime half way between "La Celestina" and "Don Quixote" - in the 16th Century Golden Age of Spanish literature, art, music, architecture, and colonial plunder - "Lazarillo de Tormes" is as iconic for Spaniards as "Huckleberry Finn" for Americans, and equally funny. No author has been firmly identified, but the likeliest candidate is a disgruntled friar named Juan de Ortega, since the book is both clearly knowledgeable about church ritual and plainly skeptical about church sanctity. Three pirated editions of it were published in the year 1554. In 1559, sales were boosted magnificently when the book was banned by the Inquisition. It has never been out of print since. Numerous sequels and continuations have been attached to Lazarillo, but none of them have captured the salty tang of the original, a patent demonstration of just how finely written the original is. This is a dual-language edition, intended for intermediate learners of the Spanish language. The translation is 'not half bad' though it lacks the coy, ironic 'formality' of the original. The word 'formal' in Spanish carries a special sense of being opportunistically proper, and that's exactly what Lazarillo aspires to be, as his means of survival -- the smoothest rogue in the pack. Modern spellings and punctuation have been applied to the Spanish text, making it far more available to readers with even a single good year of college study. Even if your Spanish is limited to 'burrito' and 'toreador', however, you'll find Lazarillo de Tormes a tale to relish and a time-machine in which to visit an age of cultural marvels.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic, classic! Foundation for an entire genre,
By Fairlee E. Winfield "Author of BUFFALOed 2009... (Boulder, Colorado) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)
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This review is from: Lazarillo de Tormes (Dual-Language) (Paperback)
I couldn't write a word without Lazaro, the omnipresent narrator of this slim volume. When I want to feel a character is a true rogue I turn to Lazaro. He puts me in the mood. He's funny. He's pitiful. He survives.
I first read "Lazarillo de Tormes" years ago in grad school. I never tire of him. And this bilingual edition is so wonderful. The original Spanish is pretty archaic and difficult, but with this edition you can flip back and forth between English and Spanish allowing better comprehension and faster reading. Fairlee Winfield Author of BUFFALOed www.fairleewinfield.com Of course Lazarillo is the foundation for all the picaresque novels from Cervantes, to Twain, to more recent unmentionables. He was banned by the inquisition, sanitized and allowed to reappear under a new title "Lazarillo castigado." Sounds something like the present, doesn't it. Lazaro is my inspiration.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good translation,
By
This review is from: Lazarillo de Tormes (Dual-Language) (Paperback)
This review is not about the Lazarillo, which is a timeless classic, but about this particular dual-language edition, featuring a translation, prologue, and notes, by Stanley Appelbaum.
It presents this classic in a very proficient way to an English speaker. In a short, to-the-point introduction, the author explains which edition has been chosen for the Spanish version and why. He gives just enough historical and literary context about the Lazarillo to make it more enjoyable, and explains some very reasonable spelling choices. The English translation itself is sober, and totally unpretentious, but somehow manages to keep much of the freshness and general rowdy spirit of the original. Footnotes are strategically added, without ever becoming overbearing, to give some historical context or explain some pun difficult to translate. Even a cultured, non-specialist Spanish speaker like myself can benefit from the concise information contained in this little book. I found myself often resorting to the English translation (presented always on the right-side pages) to better understand some archaism or difficult expression. Lazarillo is one of those little books everyone should read, simply because of the amount of concentrated wisdom it contains in little space. Appelbaum respects that spirit, and his translation doesn't hinder that wisdom transmition.
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