Lazarillo de Tormes
The 1554 Spanish novella that founded the picaresque, published anonymously to dodge the Inquisition. Despite centuries of candidates, its author remains unknown.
- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- 1554
- Form
- Novels
- Authorship
- Still unknown
- Reason for anonymity
- Unrecorded
- Copyright
- Public domain
- Reference
- Wikipedia · Wikidata
The authorship story
Lazarillo de Tormes appeared in 1554, the life of a servant boy told in his own voice as he passes from a blind beggar to a miserly priest to a penniless squire, each master a satire of Spanish society and church. The Inquisition banned it within five years, and the anonymity was clearly protective: whoever wrote it had reason to stay hidden. Candidates have been argued for centuries, from Diego Hurtado de Mendoza to Alfonso de Valdes, and none has been established. The book that invented the picaresque novel, and with it a whole lineage of first person fiction, remains authorless in the record.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote Lazarillo de Tormes?
Nobody knows. No author for Lazarillo de Tormes has been identified in the documented record.
Can I read Lazarillo de Tormes for free?
Yes. Lazarillo de Tormes is in the public domain and the full text is free to read at Project Gutenberg.
When was Lazarillo de Tormes published?
Lazarillo de Tormes was published in 1554 without an author’s name.
Related works
- Still unknown
Vertue Rewarded
A 1693 Irish novel of love and virtue during the Williamite war, published anonymously and never attributed.
- Still unknown
Actio Curiosa
An anonymous seventeenth century Hungarian dramatic work. No author has been identified in the documented record.
- Still unknown
Amduat
An ancient Egyptian netherworld book describing the sun god's journey through the twelve hours of night. Like all Egyptian funerary literature, it names no author.
- Still unknown
Beowulf
The Old English epic of the hero's fights with Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. Its poet is unknown, and the single surviving manuscript names no author.