The Spanish novelist Mateo Alemán (1547-ca. 1615) wrote the first full-fledged picaresque novel, Guzmán de Alfarache. The book was widely read and translated and was imitated in Germany, France, and England.

Mateo Alemán was born in Seville and christened on Sept. 28, 1547. His parents were the physician Hernando Alemán, who practiced at the royal prison, and Juana de Enero, both descendants of converted Jews. By his own admission, Alemán received a very good education. He probably studied with the humanist Juan de Mal Lara. Alemán graduated from University of Seville (then called Colegio de Maese Rodrigo) in 1564. He studied medicine at the universities of Alcalá de Henares and Salamanca and in 1568 was licensed to practice.

Alemaán returned to Seville, where he quickly ran into economic and romantic problems (they followed him all his life). He...