‘JOSEPH ANDREWS’ | A Picaresque Novel

  Joseph Andrews is one of the masterpieces in English literature. It is generally and frequently remarked about it that there are certain events, which suggest that it is a picaresque novel. Although ‘Joseph Andrews’ cannot be regarded as a picaresque novel in the strict sense of the term yet it has some elements of picaresque novel. Before proceeding the discussion, it seems to be quite appropriate to define and explain ‘Picaresque Novel’. The word picaresque has been taken from a Spanish word ‘Picaro’. Picaro means a villain, rogue or a vagabond. This type of novel started in 16th century in Spain. In the picaresque novel, the misadventures or adventures of some rogue or a villain were described. In other words, we can say that it was a tradition of picaresque novel to describe the adventures and misadventures of a rogue. Spanish writer Cervantes wrote ‘Don Quixote’, which is the most popular Picaresque novel. Thomas Nashe's ‘The Unfortunate Traveler’ is also a Picaresqu