Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
And yet Don Quixote in its greatness transcends mere spoof, not that you're saying it's limited to that. It could stand on its own merits without reference to tired tropes. I still think it works as epic, hero's journey and all that, but I'd agree that picaresque is a special subset of epic and not wholly contained within it, either.
The MR book club is reading Candide this month, so it's a good time to try to codify my thoughts on the picaresque!
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The best stories transcend time and their origins.
Some times they transcend authorial intent.
(Just ask Shakespeare.)