La Lozana Andaluza, by Francisco Delicado: Rome, dialogue and a precursor of the picaresque. Literary, philological and critical study of the work and its place in the Spanish narrative of the Golden Ages.

A neighboring work, prior to the genre

He Portrait of the Andalusian Lozana appeared in Venice in 1528, before the first surviving editions of the Lazarillo. Its inclusion in this itinerary responds to a historical and critical affinity, not to a formal identity: Delicado does not construct a retrospective autobiography of a rogue that justifies his present state. The protagonist comes to life in a succession of dialogue scenes and the book is presented as a "portrait." Simply calling it a picaresque novel would erase precisely what makes it unique.

Aldonza in the city

Aldonza, called Lozana, arrives in Rome and converts her ingenuity, her knowledge of bodies and their relationships into instruments of subsistence. Rampín is an accomplice, guide and counterpoint. The movement from house to house allows us to observe clerics, courtesans, merchants, neighbors and clients, without reducing them to a single moral judgment. Unlike the male service itinerary that will be organized by the Lazarillo, here the exchange, the negotiated word and the ability of a woman to act in an unequal market matter.

The form: mamotretos, voices and languages

The "mamotretos" articulate a verbal mosaic. Orality, the mixed speech of cosmopolitan Rome, the erotic misunderstandings and professional allusions make the dialogue a literary document of enormous complexity. This effect of reality should not be confused with a transparent transcription of everyday life: Delicate selects, exaggerates and arranges the voices. The author also intervenes in the text, thereby complicating the border between testimony, fiction and self-representation.

Editorial history and critical perspective

The sacking of Rome in 1527 gives the evoked city the appearance of a threatened world; It is important to distinguish the time from the action, the composition and the Venetian impression. Delicate, a clergyman based in Italy and active in the publishing business, also wrote about guaiac as a remedy for syphilis. The transmission of the work and its late reception explain part of its uneven critical fortune. Its quality lies in the rhythm of the voices, the compositional freedom and the social density of the urban space; some perspectives on women, sexuality and illness demand contextualization, not uncritical approval.

Place on this tour

La Lozana teaches that the picaresque was not born in a vacuum. He shares with her the descent of his gaze towards jobs, necessity and cunning, while his dialogic construction approaches other traditions, particularly the celestineesque. That is why it appears here as a precedent and related work. The comparison illuminates both its originality and the future choice of the autobiographical story by picaresque writers.

References to deepen

Study or textual testimony in the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library and academic repositories. See also Alonso Zamora Vicente, "What is the picaresque novel". The dates and attributions discussed are noted as such.

See the general study of the Spanish picaresque novel of the Golden Ages.

Edition available

He Alba Longa digital catalog on Payhip offers the editions available there; no individual link has been verified for this work.

Buy the edition at Bubok.

Automatic translation of the original article. The language of this page does not determine the language of the book: purchase links lead to the editions indicated, including editions in their original language.