The Life of Lazarillo of Tormes, Parts One and Two
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Robert Rudder >> The Life of Lazarillo of Tormes, Parts One and Two
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12 THE LIFE OF LAZARILLO OF TORMES, HIS FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES AS
TOLD BY HIMSELF
Edited and Translated by Robert S. Rudder
With a Sequel by Juan de Luna
Translated by Robert S. Rudder with Carmen Criado de Rodriguez
Puertolas
Copyright 1973 by Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc.
Copyright 1995 by Robert S. Rudder
This translation is for
LISA, PAULA,
and
CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL,
three small picaros.
Contents
Introduction
THE LIFE OF LAZARILLO OF TORMES
Prologue
I Lazaro Tells about His Life and His Parents
II How Lazaro Took up with a Priest and the Things That Happened
to Him with That Man
III How Lazaro Took up with a Squire and What Happened to Him
Then
IV How Lazaro Went to Work for a Friar of the Order of Mercy and
What Happened to Him
V How Lazaro Went to Work for a Pardoner and the Things That
Happened to Him Then
VI How Lazaro Went to Work for a Chaplain and What Happened to
Him Then
VII How Lazaro Went to Work for a Constable and Then What
Happened to Him
VIII In Which Lazaro Tells of the Friendship He Struck up in
Toledo with Some Germans and What Happened to Them
THE SECOND PART OF THE LIFE OF LAZARILLO OF TORMES
Letter of Dedication
To The Reader
I Where Lazaro Tells about How He Left Toledo to Go to the War of
Algiers
II How Lazaro Embarked at Cartagena
III How Lazaro Escaped from the Sea
IV How They Took Lazaro through Spain
V How They Took Lazaro to the Capital
VI How They Took Lazaro to Toledo
VII What Happened to Lazaro on the Way to the Tagus River
VIII How Lazaro Brought a Lawsuit against His Wife
IX How Lazaro Became a Baggage Carrier
X What Happened to Lazaro with an Old Bawd
XI How Lazaro Left for His Homeland and What Happened to Him on
the Way
XII What Happened to Lazaro in an Inn Three Miles outside of
Valladolid
XIII How Lazaro Was a Squire for Seven Women at One Time
XIV Where Lazaro Tells What Happened to Him at a Dinner
XV How Lazaro Became a Hermit
XVI How Lazaro Decided to Marry Again
Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
_Lazarillo of Tormes_ appeared in sixteenth-century Spain like a
breath of fresh air among hundreds of insipidly sentimental
novels of chivalry. With so many works full of knights who were
manly and brave enough to fight any adversary, but prone to
become weak in the knees when they saw their fair lady nearby,
was it any wonder that Lazarillo, whose only goal was to fill a
realistically hungry stomach, should go straight to the hearts of
all Spain. The little novel sold enough copies for three
different editions to be issued in 1554, and then was quickly
translated into several languages. It initiated a new genre of
writing called the "picaresque."
It seems certain that other editions, or at least other
manuscripts, of _Lazarillo_ were circulating previously, but the
earliest we know of were the three published in 1554. One of
these was printed at Burgos, another at Antwerp, and the third at
Alcala de Henares. They all differ somewhat in language, but it
is the one from Alcala de Henares that departs most radically
from the other two. It adds some episodes, not in the other
editions, which were probably written by a second author.
Because _Lazarillo_ was so critical of the clergy, it was put on
the Index Purgatorius in 1559 and further editions were
prohibited inside Spain. Then, in 1573, an abridged version was
printed that omitted Chapters four and five, along with other
items displeasing to a watchful Inquisition; later additional
episodes were suppressed. This mutilated version was reprinted
until the nineteenth century, when Spain finally allowed its
people to read the complete work once again.
The identity of the author of this novel has always been a
mystery. A few names have been suggested over the years: Juan de
Ortega, a Jeronymite monk; Sebastian de Horozco, a dramatist and
collector of proverbs. But probably the most widely accepted
theory was the attribution to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, a famous
humanist. Many early editions of _Lazarillo_ carried his name as
author, even though there has never been any real proof of his
authorship. Some critics, following Americo Castro's lead, think
the author was a Jewish convert to Christianity because of
certain phrases which point in that direction. And some think he
was a follower of Erasmus, despite the French critic Marcel
Bataillon's emphatic statements to the contrary.
One of the first relationships we become aware of as we read this
novel is the link of the name Lazaro (Lazarillo: little Lazaro)
with the biblical Lazarus: either the figure who died and was
brought back to life (John 16) or the beggar (Luke 16:20-31).
This "historical" relationship is further compounded by the fact
that many episodes of the novel are versions of material
traditional in European folklore. There is, for instance, a
thirteenth century French theatrical farce, _Le garcon et
l'aveugle_, in which a servant plays tricks on a blind man. And
the British Museum manuscript of the _Decretals_ of Gregory IX
contains an illustration of a boy drinking through a straw from a
blind man's bowl. The episode in which Lazarillo thinks a corpse
is being brought to his house appears in the _Liber facetiarum et
similitudinum Ludovici de Pinedo, et amicorum_ and may be a
folktale. And the story of the constable and the pardoner is to
be found in the fourth novel of _Il novellino_ by Masuccio
Salernitano, and may also be a folktale.
It has long been said that this novel is an accurate reflection
of society in sixteenth-century Spain. And to some extent, this
does seem to be true. The king of Spain, Charles I, became
involved in several foreign wars, and had gone deeply into debt
to German and Italian bankers in order to finance those wars.
Soon the quantities of gold and silver coming from Spain's mines
in the New World were being sent directly to the foreign bankers.
The effects of inflation were to be seen everywhere, as were
other social ills. Beggars and beggars' guilds were numerous.
Men of all classes were affixing titles to their names, and
refusing any work--especially any sort of manual labor--unless it
suited their new "rank." The clergy was sadly in need of reform.
And pardoners were--often unscrupulously--selling indulgences
that granted the forgiveness of sins in return for money to fight
the infidel in North Africa and the Mediterranean. All these
things are to be found in _Lazarillo of Tormes_.
But is the book really an accurate reflection of all of Spanish
society? If there were avaricious priests, and priests who had
mistresses, were there none with strong moral principles? If
poverty was felt so keenly by Lazarillo and others, was there no
one who enjoyed a good meal? As another writer has suggested,
the Spanish conquerors did not come to the New World on empty
stomachs, nor was the Spanish Armada ill supplied. It is
obvious, then, that while _Lazarillo_ reflects Spanish society,
it mirrors only one segment of that society. Its writer ignored
uncorrupted men of generosity and high moral principles who
surely existed alongside the others.
So just as the chivalresque novels distorted reality upward, this
novel distorts reality downward and almost invariably gives us
only the negative traits of society.
An important point is the unity, or nonunity, of the book.
Earliest critics of Lazarillo of Tormes saw it as a loosely
formed novel of unconnected episodes whose only point of unity
happened to be the little rogue who told his life story, in which
he is seen as serving one master after another. Later criticism
has changed that point of view, however, by pointing to such
unifying factors as wine, which is used as a recurring theme
throughout (Lazarillo steals it; it is used for washing his
wounds; he sells it). Then there is the "initiation" in which
Lazarillo's head is slammed against a stone statue of a bull.
Later the blind man smashes his own head against a stone post as
poetic justice is meted out. Finally, Lazarillo's mother will
"lie at the side--or stay on the side of good people," and as the
novel ends Lazaro decides to do the same.
Claudio Guillen, a modern critic, has noted that time is also a
unifying factor in this novel. Early incidents are told in
detail, and at moments of pain specific amounts of time are
measured ("I felt the pain from its horns for three days"). When
Lazarillo is taken in by the squire his hunger pangs become so
great that he begins to count the hours. But as conditions
improve for Lazarillo's stomach, he gradually forgets about the
slow passage of time. In fact, time now begins to race past:
four months with the pardoner, four years with the chaplain.
This slow, then swift, passage of time is used by Guillen to
explain the extreme brevity of some later chapters of the novel.
It is a mature Lazaro, he says, who is telling the story and
reflecting on his childhood. And we are really seeing the memory
process of this older Lazaro who glosses over less important
parts of his life and dwells on the moments that matter.
Other critics have responded to the question of "finality" in the
work; that is, is Lazarillo an incomplete novel or not?
Francisco Rico believes the novel is complete, and that there is
a "circular" structure to it all. He notes that the novel is
addressed to a certain fictional character ("You": Vuestra
merced), and that Lazarillo intends to tell this character "all
the details of the matter," the "matter" apparently being the
questionable relations between the archpriest and Lazarillo's
wife. So there is a continuity from the beginning of the work
through the details of Lazarillo's life, until the last chapter
("right up to now") where the "matter" itself, alluded to
previously in the Prologue, is finally given in some detail.
Another critic, Americo Castro, points out that _Lazarillo of
Tormes_ is different from other types of sixteenth century prose
fiction in at least one extremely important way that points
toward the modern novel. The knights of chivalresque novels and
the shepherds who sighed and lamented their way through pastoral
novels were flat characters with no room to grow. Not so
Lazarillo. Every action, every twist of fortune makes an
impression on him, forms his way of looking at the world and
shapes his nature. From an innocent little boy he becomes a
mischievous, then vengeful, blind man's boy. He observes the
hypocrisy, avarice, false pride, materialism of his masters, and
when he marries the archpriest's mistress for what he can gain,
he applies all the lessons he has learned on the ladder to
success--to the
"height of all good fortune." Americo Castro also notes that
_Lazarillo of Tormes_ is a step toward the masterpiece of
Cervantes, _Don Quixote of La Mancha_. As this critic said: "In
addition to its intrinsic merits, the _Lazarillo de Tormes_ is
supremely important viewed in its historic perspective In many
ways it made possible the _Quijote_. Among other things, it
offered in the intimate opposition of the squire and his servant
the first outline of the duality-unity of Don Quijote and
Sancho."
Style is another point of great importance to this novel,
particularly in the use of conceits. Lazarillo's father, for
example, "suffered persecution for righteousness' sake," a clear
reference to the beatitudes. But in this case "righteousness" is
the law who is punishing him for being the thief that he is.
Throughout the novel we see similar plays on words: the master,
who "although he was _blind, enlightened_ me;" or the squire who
tried to coax certain young ladies one morning, and whose stomach
was _warm_, but when he discovered that his pocketbook was
_cold_, he suffered _hot-chills_.
It is not surprising that sequels promptly appeared, but the
writers of these unfortunately lacked the genius of the author of
the original _Lazarillo_. An anonymous sequel appeared in 1555
with the title, _The Second Part of Lazarillo of Tormes, His
Fortunes and Misfortunes_. Its beginning words are the same as
the final ones of the first _Lazarillo_, but there any similarity
ends. In this novel Lazaro makes friends with some Germans and
his wife gives birth to a daughter. Lazaro then enlists to go on
an expedition to fight the Turks, his ship sinks, and he is
miraculously changed into a fish. He has many adventures in the
sea, and is finally caught up in the nets of some fishermen and
changes back into a man. The novel is a fantasy, and may be
allegorical. The beginning is its most realistic point, and the
first chapter of this novel became tacked onto the end of the
first _Lazarillo_.
No further sequels were printed until 1620 when Juan Cortes de
Tolosa's book, _Lazarillo de Manzanares_, was published. This
novel imitates the first _Lazarillo_ in its initial episodes, but
is again far less successful than the original.
In the same year, 1620, Juan de Luna's _Second Part of the Life
of Lazarillo of Tormes_ was published in Paris. (Another edition
was published simultaneously in Paris, but was marked as though
printed in Zaragoza to facilitate the book's sale in Spain.)
Little is definitely known about Luna. We do know that he was
born in Spain--perhaps in Aragon. He apparently fled to France
in 1612 as a political and religious refugee: in one of his books
he refers to himself as "a foreigner who has left behind his
homeland, his relatives, and his estate for a just and legitimate
cause." It has been speculated that Luna may have been educated
for the priesthood but then grown dissatisfied and even
vehemently bitter toward the clergy. The reason for his flight
to France has been interpreted as a flight from the Spanish
Inquisition. In France, in Montauban, he began to study theology
to prepare himself for the Protestant ministry. But soon
afterward he became a Spanish teacher in Paris, and in 1619
published a book of proverbs and phrases for Spanish students.
The following year his continuation of Lazarillo was published,
along with a revised version of the original Lazarillo (revised
because its style did not suit his tastes). Next he appeared in
London, in 1622, attempting to have his sequel translated into
English. His Spanish grammar was published there the following
year. The last information we have of him is that he became a
Protestant minister in England, and for three years delivered
sermons to his fellow Spaniards each Sunday, in Mercer's Chapel,
Cheapside, London.
Although the details of Juan de Luna's life are rather sketchy, a
great deal more can be said about his novel. His continuation of
Lazarillo was the only sequel to meet with any success. The same
characters--Lazarillo, the archpriest, the squire, etc.--are
here, but their personalities are changed drastically. The
squire is the one who is most noticeably different. He is
no longer the sympathetic, poor, generous (when he has money)
figure of the first part. Now he is a thief, a cowardly braggart,
a dandy, and Lazaro has nothing but scorn for him. Lazaro himself
is now fully grown, and there is no room for his personality
to change as before. Perhaps the only character who is
still the same is Lazaro's wife.
Other differences between the two novels are also evident. In
the first _Lazarillo_ we see a central protagonist who serves a
different master or performs a different type of work in each
chapter. But in Luna's sequel we do not have this same
structure. In the first five chapters of Luna's book, for
example, Lazarillo's adventures flow as they do in traditional
novels: he goes to sea, the ship sinks, he is captured by
fishermen and put on exhibition as a fish, and finally he is
rescued. The following chapters, however, often divide his life
into segments as he goes from one position to another.
Another difference to be noted is that while the first Lazarillo
addresses a certain person ("You": Vuestra merced) who is not the
reader but an acquaintance of the archpriest, in the _Second
Part_ something quite different occurs. Luna's Lazaro addresses
the "dear reader" but hardly with flattering terms: he humorously
suggests that we may all be cuckolds. Then he ironically refuses
to tell us about--or even let us think about--certain promiscuous
details because they may offend our pure and pious ears. The
framework of the first novel is apparently a device whose
purpose, like the "Arabic historian" and the "translators" of
_Don Quixote_, is to create an atmosphere of realism, while
Luna's "dear reader" is simply a device for humor.
Another important distinction to be made between the two books is
the extent of word-play used. Almost one hundred years elapsed
between the times the two books were published, and literary
styles changed a great deal. While the first _Lazarillo_ used
some conceits, as we have previously noted, Luna's book abounds
with them to the point where it becomes baroque. About people
who are being flooded with water or are drowning, it is usually
said that they are overcome by trifling, but watery,
circumstances: "a drop in the ocean" (ahogar en tan poca agua).
Lazarillo's child is "born with the odor of saintliness about
her" (una hija ingerta a canutillo); unfortunately this refers
less to her as holy than it does to the fact that her father is
really the archpriest. The use of antithesis is also evident
throughout Luna's novel. From the beginning in which he
dedicated his small work to a great princess, throughout the
length of the book, we find Lazaro esteemed by his friends and
feared by his enemies, begging from people who give money with
open hands while he does not take it with closed ones, and so on.
Another trick in language is Luna's plays on sounds: such
combinations as sali--salte (left--leaped), comedia--comida
(rituals--victuals) are abundant. Luna also uses obscene
conceits for a humorous purpose, mixing them with religious
allusions both for humor and to vent his own feelings of
hostility against the church.
Yet another important difference between the two novels lies in
Luna's emphasis on tying up loose ends. We know that in the
first _Lazarillo_ the protagonist leaves the blind man for dead,
not knowing what happened to him, and we never do find out
whether he survived the blow or not. Later the squire runs away
from Lazaro, and we never see him again either. The author of
the first _Lazarillo_ gives us a series of vignettes in which the
psychological interplay of the characters is stressed. The
characters fade out of Lazaro's life just as people fade in and
out of our own lives. Luna, however, was much more interested in
telling a good story--and one that has an ending. So the squire
appears, and tells what happened to him after leaving Lazaro: a
complete story in itself. He steals Lazaro's clothes and runs
off, and later we see him again--having got his just retribution
almost by pure chance. The innkeeper's daughter runs off with
her priest, and both turn up several chapters later; their
account amounts to another short story. The "innocent" girl and
the bawd disappear, then return to play a scene with Lazaro once
more, and finally they fade out, presumably to live by their wits
ever after. Related to this stress on external action is the
importance Luna gives to descriptive rather than psychological
detail. His minutely detailed descriptions of clothing are
especially noteworthy: the squire's "suit"; the gallant's
clothing as he emerges from the trunk; the costume worn by the
girl who became a gypsy. These are descriptions we do not find
in the original _Lazarillo_ because the author of that work is
much more interested in internal motivations than external
description and action.
Let us move on to another point: the social satire in the two
novels. We have seen the satire against the various classes, and
particularly against the church, in the first _Lazarillo_. And
Luna's satire has the same targets. The essential difference is
in the way the two authors handle their darts. The first
_Lazarillo_ is fairly subtle in its attacks: men are avaricious,
materialistic unscrupulous infamous--and these vices are
sometimes only very loosely connected with the church. But Luna
wants us to know definitely that the church is like this, so his
satire of the church is blunt and devastating. The Inquisition,
he tells us plainly, is corrupt, brutal, and feared throughout
all of Spain. Priests and friars are always anxious to accept a
free meal, they have mistresses, and they are less principled
than thieves. Lawyers and the entire judicial system are
corrupt. The Spaniards, Luna tells us from his position of exile
in Paris, are too proud to work, and they will become beggars
rather than perform any sort of-manual labor. Lazaro himself is
held up to us as a "mirror of Spanish sobriety." Apparently
Luna's anger about having to leave Spain had no opportunity to
mellow before he finished his novel.
Luna's _Second Part of Lazarillo of Tormes_ is not the "First
Part." But even so, it has its merit. Luna liked to tell
stories, and he was good at it. Some scenes are witty and highly
entertaining. When Lazaro meets his old friends, the bawd and
the "maiden," at an inn, the action is hardly dull. The "quarter
of kid" becomes the center of attraction from the time it appears
on Lazaro's plate until he falls and ejects it from his throat,
and it is used skillfully and humorously to tell us a great deal
about each of the characters present.
Another scene worth calling to the reader's special attention is
the chapter in which a feast is held that erupts into a brawl,
after which the local constabulary arrives. Luna's account is a
very close predecessor of the modern farce. Many of the
elements seem to be present: a lack of reverence, a situation
used for comic effects, the chase through many rooms to find the
guests, the beatings that the constable's men are given by the
pursued, being "breaded" in flour, "fried" in oil, and left out
on the street where they run away, ashamed to be seen. It is as
though we are catching a glimpse of the Keystone Cops,
seventeenth-century style. And the variations from seventeenth
to twentieth century do not appear to amount to a great deal.
University of California at Los Angeles December 1972
ROBERT S. RUDDER
Translator's Note
My translation of the first Lazarillo follows Foulche Delbosc's
edition, which attempts to restore the editio princeps but does
not include the interpolations of the Alcala de Henares edition.
The translation of the first chapter of the anonymous sequel of
1555 follows at the end of the first part because it serves as a
bridge between the first novel and Luna's sequel. For Juan de
Luna's sequel, the modern edition by Elmer Richard Sims, more
faithful to the manuscript than any other edition, has been
utilized.
A word of thanks is due to Professor Julio Rodriguez Puertolas,
whose own work was so often interrupted by questions from the
outer sanctum, and who nevertheless bore through it all with good
humor, and was very helpful in clearing up certain mysteries in
the text.
The seventy-three drawings [not included in this electronic text]
were prepared by Leonard Bramer, a Dutch painter who was born in
1596 and died in 1674. Living most of his life in Delft, he is
best known for his drawings and for his illustrations of Ovid's
writings and of other works of literature. The original drawings
are in the keeping of the Graphische Sammlung in Munich.
R.S.R.
THE LIFE OF LAZARILLO OF TORMES, HIS FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES AS
TOLD BY HIMSELF
Prologue
I think it is good that such remarkable things as these, which
may never have been heard of or seen before, should come to the
attention of many people instead of being buried away in the tomb
of oblivion. Because it might turn out that someone who reads
about them will like what he reads, and even people who only
glance lightly through this book may be entertained.
Pliny says along these lines that there is no book--no matter how
bad it is--that doesn't have something good in it. And this is
all the more true since all tastes are not the same: what one man
won't even touch, another will be dying to get. And so there are
things that some people don't care for, while others do. The
point is that nothing should be destroyed or thrown away unless
it is really detestable; instead, it should be shown to
everybody, especially if it won't do any harm and they might get
some good out of it.
If this weren't so, there would be very few people who would
write for only one reader, because writing is hardly a simple
thing to do. But since writers go ahead with it, they want to be
rewarded, not with money but with people seeing and reading their
works, and if there is something worthwhile in them, they would
like some praise. Along these lines too, Cicero says: "Honor
promotes the arts."
Does anyone think that the first soldier to stand up and charge
the enemy hates life?
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