Espinel and Marcos de Obregón: Parallel Lives

Abstract

The Relaciones de la vida del escudero Marcos de Obregón, the singular and unique novel published by Vicente Espinel in 1618, continues to occupy a problematic place within the picaresque corpus. Although, as far as formal issues are concerned, Espinel follows the path that was inaugurated in 1599 with the publication of Lazarillo and that would be consolidated in 1599 with Alemán’s Guzmán, the Relaciones difficult fit has to do above all with its protagonist, the squire Marcos de Obregón, who is presented as a clear alter ego of the author. In this paper we analyze the strategies Espinel uses to project himself in the hero of his fiction, whom he shapes in his own image and likeness. A hybrid between reality and fiction, the Relaciones were read for centuries as Espinel’s novelized memoirs, and were even used as a source of information to fill in the gaps in his biography.