“All I can say is that my new master had collected all the stinginess in the world and was hoarding it”.

As a child, Lazaro de Tormes sees his world destroyed twice, never seeming to think much of it: he is 8 when his father, a miller, is judged and sent to war for stealing grain. He dies in exile, and Lazaro’s mother finds employment in a nearby city; working in a notable’s house, she settles in a relation with a black stable groom and has a second child with him. Some time into the relationship, her lover is discovered to steal from his master for them: they are separated, bodily punished, and she is relegated to a life as a servant in an inn, where she tries to bring up both Lazaro and his mulatto half-brother; finally, a blind beggar offers to take Lazaro in his service, and so he is launched into a thieving life of his own.

Ostensibly presented as a short autobiography written by Lazaro to entertain a patron, the “Excellency” at the service of whom he ends up working a government job, the novel is widely regarded as a genre-founding work, that of the picaresque novel. “Picaro”, meaning “rogue” in Spanish, characterize a variety of “hero” rather rare in classic literature, one who is neither noble of spirits nor punished for his sins. At a time where fiction was seen as excusable only if edifying, this novel depicts a morally bankrupt society where virtue is not only laughed at: it is impossible.

In his adventures, Lazarillo first follows a blind beggar, who turns out to be a good master — not in the way he treats his apprentice, who gets barely enough to eat and plenty enough beatings, but in all the dirty tricks, cheats and thieving tips he witnesses, and in the ones he has to employ to pluck food out of his miserly “uncle’s” hands. After a particularly brutal beating, Lazarillo finally leaves this first master and finds employment with a priest, who though not as dishonest proves even more close-fisted. All the while misdirecting suspicions towards mice and a fantastical snake, Lazaro manages for a while to steal enough bread to survive, but finally gets thrown out of the house when he is discovered. From there he falls in the employ of a Squire, who despite managing to keep face, believes it the honorable thing to do to starve to death rather than work: this master Lazarillo will even have to provide for through begging, before being left behind as a liability. A few others masters follow — a friar of which not much is told except that he walked a lot, a seller of indulgences who finishes Lazaro’s education in “persuasive” selling, a tambourine painter, a chaplain for whom he sells water (the first job providing enough for him to eat to his contentment, and even to save enough money in four years for a set of decent clothes), a constable – a calling too dangerous for our hero’s taste.

Finally comes a function as a town crier, and through it the favor of his master and a moderate fortune in cornering the market for public sales announcements in his city. Further, Lazarillo is rewarded for his services by an arranged marriage to a girl who is apparently to the service of a third personage in more ways than one — a state of things her husband prudently refuses to know anything about, happy only to benefit from the favor of this man.

Overall, Lazarillo is a great read, with vigorous language and comedic situations making it funny at more turns than one. It is also a very direct denunciation of the society of its time, in which someone whose fortune is not made at birth will struggle against almost endless obstacles, and cannot perhaps succeed without artifice. The Church takes the brunt of the criticism, appearing selfish, stingy and exploitative through its various representatives, but the absurd high airs of the impoverished nobility, the credulity of commoners and the general dishonesty of the society does not fare any better. There is not much reflection on the situation of black people, who are briefly pitied with a cliche; women do slightly better. While secondary characters endowed with very little feelings of their own, they often appear in position of self-sacrifice (Lazarillo’s mother) or are slightly more giving than their male counterparts (the neighbors of the Squire). All in all a book which would probably be a minor classic if not for its novelty at the time, but a nice rapid read well worth the time for its entertaining value.