La vida del Buscón llamado Don Pablos (The Life of the Rogue Called Don Pablos) by Francisco de Quevedo (1580–1645) was first published in 1626, although there is proof that it was written some years earlier. Quevedo is one of the major figures in early modern Spanish literature. A nobleman of strongly elitist bent, he exemplified the baroque spirit in his poetry and other works, which cover politics, philosophy, and theology, often through crushing satire. The baroque period is characterized by a spirit of competition and rivalry. Quevedo’s principal rival – part of a long list – is Luis de Góngora, another brilliant poet with a mordant wit. As a poet, Góngora is considered to be a master of culteranismo, marked by a profusion of rhetorical figures and flourishes. Quevedo, in turn, is associated with conceptismo, which elevates conceits and conceptual plays (and ploys). The Buscón is Quevedo’s only fictional narrative, and it shows the author’s consciousness of the picaresque genre. With the anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes and Mateo Alemán’s Guzmán de Alfarache, the Buscón is classified as an archetypal picaresque text. Pablos becomes the baroque pícaro par excellence.

Quevedo’s opening note to the reader sets a tone of irony. The book will offer tales of deception and scams, but one can benefit from its sermons, which, in fact, can be hard to find. Forms of parody perhaps may provide keys to analysis. One may discern that Quevedo will follow the deep structure of his predecessors while venturing into his own brand of picaresque narrative. In the first chapter, Pablos addresses a nameless narratee, as he recounts his genealogy. Lineage is significant in autobiography, biography, and chivalric romance, while in the picaresque its function is to mock the protagonist. Pablos, from Segovia, is most obviously a New Christian, whose father was a barber and a thief and whose mother was a prostitute and enchantress, although each pretended to be upright and of pure blood. Pablos had a little brother who was jailed for stealing and who died from lashes that he received in prison. The parents want Pablos to follow their respective paths, and they put forth their cases before him.