Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

The picaresque novel is a genre of prose fiction whose modern form originated in Spain with the anonymous publication of Lazarillo de Tormes in 1554, which employed elements of Roman, Slavic, and Arabic literature and folktales from earlier centuries. The genre takes its name from the word picaro—or “cunning rogue”—used to describe the novel’s protagonist, a rebellious but appealing hero. In the centuries following, authors adopted elements of the form to tell stories about anti-heroes, fools, and accidental leaders. Classics in the genre include Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1605), Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders (1722), William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (1848), Voltaire’s Candide (1759), and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884); modern literary prize-winners include John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) and Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger (2008).

During this evolution, the cynical and amoral picaro willing to lie, cheat, and steal softened into more of a “charming scoundrel” with a clear moral compass (though it occasionally points in the wrong direction). However, other elements of the original form are still present in contemporary picaresques. Using the first-person perspective, the protagonist often tells a story about an adventurous journey wherein they survive by wit and luck in a corrupt or dangerous place, encountering tricksters, thieves, and other ne’er-do-wells. Along their journeys, picaros disregard or expose shortcomings in the norms and morals accepted by society, triumphing by staying true to their view of the world. Episodic in structure and realistic in style, picaresques often use romantic, comedic, or satirical elements to develop themes connected to identity, ambition, and belonging in society.

Following this tradition, the titular protagonist in Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk narrates her journey through the nighttime streets of New York City in the 1980s, the decade for which crime rates were the worst in the city’s history. In this setting, Lillian sets her course and interacts with strangers who are often well-meaning but sometimes threatening. It is luck, along with kindness and sheer determination to love her city and its inhabitants, that guides Lillian through her adventures. Sharp-witted and resolved, Lillian is more “cunning rogue” than a “charming scoundrel” as she doles out her advice, her cash, and even her fur coat in exchange for the distraction of people’s company and their unique stories. Thus, Rooney’s empathetic picaro updates the picaresque tradition and stands out from Cervantes’s foolish knight, Twain’s uneducated waif, or Toole’s cynical hermit.

In picaresque style, Rooney’s use of structure makes the novel doubly episodic, following Lillian on her New Year’s Eve journey while also flashing back through the preceding 60 years. This depicts Lillian as a true picaro, who has stayed true to her guiding principles through minor peccadillos and major tragedies. In flashbacks, Lillian is openly critical of societal norms regarding women’s roles in marriage and the workplace, the value of propriety, and the meaning of love; in the present, she rejects the common view that New York City is in decline and refuses to conform to others’ assumptions of her as a helpless elderly lady. Lillian’s memories of the city take on a romantic perspective, while her present-day descriptions note the gritty reality of the neighborhoods she explores; her interactions sometimes border on the absurd, and they are humorous even to her would-be muggers. Rooney weaves together all the elements of the traditional picaresque into Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk.