128 pginas | Tapa blandaOne of Spanish Literatures most ancient and beloved classics, the first picaresque novel, now available from Vintage Espaol.

Spain has produced two books that changed world literature:Don QuixoteandLazarillo de Tormes, the first picaresque novel ever written and the inspired precursor to works as various asVanity FairandHuckleberry Finn. Banned by the Spanish Inquisition after publication in 1554,Lazarillowas soon translated throughout Europe, where it was widely copied. The book is a favorite to this day for its vigorous colloquial style and the earthy realism with which it exposes human hypocrisy.

The bastard son of a prostitute, Lazarillo goes to work for a blind beggar, who beats and starves him, while teaching him some very useful dirty tricks. The boy then drifts in and out of the service of a succession of masters, each vividly sketched and together revealing the corrupt world of imperial Spain. Its miseries are made all the more apparent by the candor and surprising good cheer with which young Lazarillo recounts his ever more curious fate.