Establishing The Picara As A Distinct Archetype: Some Observations And Conclusions
Date
2014-09-26
Authors
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
In reviewing the body of critical works on the picaresque genre and its protagonists ("picaro" for male and "picara" for female), one comes across many statements like the one in Rogue 's Progress, where Robert Alter claims that "[Thomas] Mann was fascinated by the archetype of the trickster; there is more than a touch of the picaroon in his Joseph" (125). Alter, like many other critics of the picaresque, use the labels of trickster and picaro a interchangeably, as if they refer to the same character type. Others further confuse readers by describing the picara as a female version of the picaro, the flip side of the picaro, etc. Only Anne J. Cruz describes the picara on her own terms in comparison to the picaro, rather than in terms of a character based on the picaro, but her description of the picara focuses almost entirely on her role as a prostitute, which is just one of the picara's possible peripheral traits. Anne Kaler dedicates a full book to the picara, but never defines her well enough to distinguish her from many other strong female literary figures, and goes (perhaps too) far beyond the usual designations of the picaresque in her endeavors. Marilyn Jurich, in her book on female tricksters, gives a very good analysis of what a figure like the the picara is and does, though she does not technically discuss the picara. To clear up much of this confusion, this paper will make several observations that should help to distinguish the archetypal picara from other female characters, the picaro and the trickster.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Extent
89 pages
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
All UHM Honors Projects are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Collections
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.