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This sub-genre features the "swashbuckling" hero--a character whose use of swords, acrobatics, and guile support his chivalric ideals. He rescues other. The word, itself, was first used in the 16th century to indicate a "blustering, swaggering fighting man." Characteristics of this genre include:
- a known and "dastardly" villain
- a victim in need (the "damsel in distress")
- outstanding courage
- unique fighting skill
- a sense of honor/justice
The word picaresque comes from the Spanish word picaro, which was first used in the early 17th century to identify a rogue, bohemian, adventurer, or rapscallion. A picaroon is listed as a synonym for the word pirate in many English dictionaries. In these books, the protagonist doesn't generally fit the typical model of a hero. Characteristically, these novels include:
- protagonist of low-class or crimnal and carefree
- episodic adventure and a pointless quest
- satire (comedic)
- social criticism
- theatrical storytelling/first person narration
Classics include:
- Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Candide by Voltaire
- Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
- Moll Flanders by Daniel DeFoe
- Cyrano de Bergerac
- The Three Musketeers
- The Scaarlet Pimpernetl
- Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
- Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Modern Literary Examples:
- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
- Slaugherhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- One Hundred Years of Solitutde by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
- Catcher in the Rye by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
- Dodger by Terry Pratchett
- The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
- Forrest Grump by Winston Groom
- Zorro by Isabel Allende