Mateo Alemán (Cyclopedia of World Authors)
The sixteenth century in Spain brought a flood of idealistic novels as well as the first picaresque novel, which was introduced with Lazarillo de Tormes in 1554. Although religious censorship under Philip II discouraged imitators of Lazarillo de Tormes for a time, the king’s death allowed writers to react against idealistic and didactic fiction and to turn to realistic and satirical novels. The author of one of the best, Guzmán de Alfarache, was Mateo Alemán (ahl-ay-MAHN), who as the son of a prison doctor of Seville had learned about rogues as a child. Trying...
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