I. Tratado primero
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The first picaresque novel, for B2
Lazarillo de Tormes La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades
Anonymous, 1554
The complete anonymous Spanish novel of 1554, not an adaptation: the author’s own prologue and all seven tratados of Lázaro’s life. In the catalog it is B2: about 20,100 words and 30 words per sentence on average. The prologue is the densest part, the third tratado the lightest, and the tratados range from about 115 to 6,300 words.
- B2
- 20 064 words
- 3-6 hours
Will this text hold?
B1
Earlier
At B1 the long chains of clauses in the prologue and the first tratado will be slow going, and forms such as ansí, desta, aquestos and pronouns after the verb (díjome, diome) need unpacking.
B1B2
This text
You can manage it at B2: the story is told in plain words, one master at a time, and the dialogues are short. Read the prologue slowly, translate single words, and the rest goes on.
Check this passageC1
With room to spare
At C1 the book reads freely; what remains is the irony, because Lázaro says one thing and means another.
Start readingThe average sentence has 30 words, as long as in La edad de oro (30) and close to Bécquer’s Leyendas (32), against 23 in El Buscón and 13 in Niebla. The vocabulary, however, is plain: only one word in twenty has 9 letters or more (4.9%), far below the 9.9% where the catalog’s C1 books begin, and the sentences stay well short of the 38 words of the C2 books. The long sentences are chains of short clauses joined by y and que, not stacked abstractions. The prologue is the densest stretch at about 40 words per sentence, tratado III, full of dialogue, the lightest at about 25; 16th-century forms such as ansí, desta and díjome add some work. Hence B2. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 20 064
- words
- 30
- words in an average sentence
- 3-6
- hours of reading
- 1554
- Juan de Junta
Juan de Junta, 1554. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
Lázaro, the son of a miller, is handed over as a small boy to a blind beggar who teaches him how hard the world is. From him the boy passes from master to master: a stingy priest, a squire too proud to admit he has nothing to eat, a friar, a seller of papal indulgences, a chaplain and a constable. Behind it all Lázaro is writing to an unnamed “vuestra merced” to explain “el caso”. What that case is, and how Lázaro comes to the prosperity he boasts of, is not revealed here.
Compare two places
La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades
III. Tratado tercero
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Choose an underlined word.
The pronoun after the verb
In mandóme, diome and díjome the pronoun stands after the verb, as 16th-century prose still liked at the start of a clause: mandóme is me mandó, diome is me dio. Move the pronoun in front of the verb in your head and the sentence straightens out; the whole book works this way.
Speaker tags between hyphens
Dialogue sits in straight quotation marks and the speaker tag is set off by hyphens, as in “No, señor -dije yo-, que...”. Read the tag as an aside and join the two halves of the speech. Old forms are plain once spotted: ansí is así, aquestos is estos, and hambre takes la, as el hambre still does.
Chapters
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
In the prologue one sentence runs on through asides, “confesando yo no ser más santo que mis vecinos, desta nonada, que en este grosero estilo”: translating the whole sentence in Reader keeps the thread of the main clause.
ReaderIf this book is not the one
All books at this level
Before you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
It is the original, not a learner’s abridgement: the complete anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes, with the author’s own prologue and all seven tratados. The text follows the 1554 Burgos edition (Juan de Junta), including the passages added in the Alcalá edition of the same year, as in Project Gutenberg ebook 320. For a simpler version of the same story, read the MovaReader retelling Lazarillo de Tormes (adaptation), level A2.
Is there an audiobook?
Lazarillo has no audiobook on MovaReader: the book is read on screen. The translation appears when you tap a word, and you will need it most for old forms and rare words such as calabazada or regladamente.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes, with the Reader plan. In this book it helps most in the prologue, where sentences average about 40 words, for example “confesando yo no ser más santo que mis vecinos, desta nonada, que en este grosero estilo”. Without the plan, single words are translated up to the daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
The whole book takes about 3-6 hours: the pace of someone reading with translation of new words, slower than a native speaker’s. The tratados are very uneven, from about 115 words (tratado IV) to about 6,300 (tratado III), so one or two make an evening.
Where does the text get easier?
It is fairly even, with one dense start. The prologue averages about 40 words per sentence, tratado I about 33, tratado II about 31, and tratado III is the lightest at about 25; tratados V-VII go back up to 34-38 words. Tratado III is the best place to find your footing.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes. Once you sign in, the reader keeps your last place and the words you opened, so you can return to the book where you left off. Any of the 8 sections also opens from the contents on this page, for example tratado I, right after the prologue.