The picaresque genre in the context of fools' literature: a study of La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes and Der abentheuerliche Simplicissimus teutsch

Fools literature,one of the predomi nant literary practicesof the e arly m odern period, assumed various genre forms. This thesis proposes to follow and demonstrate the evolution of the idea of the fool in two national literatures (Spanish and German) beginning with the humanist tradition and ending with the late baroque. The two works chosen here to exemplify fools literature belong to the so-called picaresque genre in which the fool assumes a socially critical role in exposing moral behavior.