"La Corte, del mundo maravilla": la picaresca durante el reinado de Felipe IV

Abstract

The main aim of the following study is to establish the body of texts which constitutethe genre of the picaresque novel and which were written during thereign of the Felipe IV (1621–1665) and to analyze the royal court as a spacewithin them. In a first step the study offers a succinct historical recapitulationof the relation between literature and the urban space using the example offour authors, texts or literary movements, from the ancient classical worldreaching to the establishment of Madrid as the capital of the Spanish monarchyby Felipe II in 1561. In a second part it traces the evolution of Madrid as aroyal court during the reign of Felipe II, Felipe III and Felipe IV and its functionas a literary space. Finally a critical revision of the most significant studiespublished during the last four decades on the genre of the picaresque novel,as well as an analysis on the evolution of the genre from the publication ofthe Lazarillo de Tormes (1554) to the first edition of Estebanillo González (1646).