title: The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes: A Critical Edition, Including the Original Spanish Text
author: Alfonso J. Garca Osuna
description: <b>Alfonso J. Garca Osuna</b> is the chair of the Department of Foreign Languages at Kingsborough, a College of the City University of New York. He is also the author of <i>The Cuban Filmography: 1897 through 2001</i> (2003).
zlib_text: THE LIFE OF LAZARILLO OF TORMES, HIS FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES AS
  TOLD BY HIMSELF
  1
  Lazarillo of Tormes
  Edited and Translated by Robert S. Rudder
   With a Sequel by Juan de Luna
  Translated by Robert S. Rudder with Carmen
  Criado de Rodriguez Puertolas
  
  THE LIFE OF LAZARILLO OF TORMES, HIS FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES AS
  TOLD BY HIMSELF
  2
  INTRODUCTION
  _Lazarillo of Tormes_ appeared in sixteenth-century Spain like a
  breath of fresh air among hundreds of insipidly sentimental novels of
  chivalry. With so many works full of knights who were manly and brave
  enough to fight any adversary, but prone to become weak in the knees
  when they saw their fair lady nearby, was it any wonder that Lazarillo,
  whose only goal was to fill a realistically hungry stomach, should go
  straight to the hearts of all Spain. The little novel sold enough copies for
  three different editions to be issued in 1554, and then was quickly
  translated into several languages. It initiated a new genre of writing called
  the "picaresque