The term picaresque describes a specific set of early modern Spanish narratives, variations in Europe and Latin America, and more recent forms in international literature and culture. There are recognized precursors of picaresque narrative, archetypal picaresque narratives, gender distinctions (pícaros and pícaras), and innovative re-creation or refashioning of the models. There are scholarly polemics on the texts and on definitions, categorizations, parameters, and readings of the works under scrutiny. There are differing opinions on antisocial behavior and discourse. This companion to the picaresque genre – and the phenomenon of the picaresque – seeks to present an overview of the picaresque and analyzes of a range of examples, along with a treatment of the debates that the picaresque has inspired. Edward H. Friedman focuses on the picaresque as a genre. Anne J. Cruz examines the origins of the picaresque. Marta Albalá Pelegrín comments on Francisco Delicado’s La lozana andaluza (1528), a work in dialogue form that may be considered a predecessor to the picaresque novel. The anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes (1554), Mateo Alemán’s Guzmán de Alfarache (1599, 1604), and Francisco de Quevedo’s La vida del Buscón (1626) – often labeled as the three major picaresque texts – are studied, respectively, by J. A. Garrido Ardila, Howard Mancing, and Edward H. Friedman. Additional chapters are devoted to La pícara Justina, often attributed to Francisco López de Úbeda (Brian M. Phillips), Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo’s La hija de Celestina (Enrique García Santo-Tomás), Miguel de Cervantes’s picaresque writings (Vicente Pérez de León), Vicente Espinel’s Marcos de Obregón (John C. Parrack), Carlos García’s La desordenada codicia de los bienes agenos (Antón García-Fernández), and the anonymous Estebanillo González (Faith S. Harden). In the following chapters, Hilaire Kallendorf surveys criticism on the picaresque, José Luis Gastañaga Ponce de León looks at the picaresque in Spanish America, Richard Squibbs deals with manifestations of the picaresque in France and England, and Andrés Zamora explores the continuity of the picaresque in Spain. Each contributor offers a particular perspective, and the goal is to provide a guide to the picaresque from multiple vantage points. Connections among texts and theorization on genre are fascinating – and flexible – issues. The act of reading and the act of criticism also should be fascinating and flexible exercises, and the editor and the contributors to this volume wish the readers a productive passage.