GIL BLAS, zhel Ms. In France the Span ish novel of roguery was imitated during the 17th century chiefly by Sorel in 'Fran clot)) and Scarron in 'Le Roman comique,> and, during the 18th century, most effectively of all, by Alain Rene Le Sage in 'Gil Bias.' This masterpiece of picaresque fiction consisted of 12 books, six published in 1715, three in 1724, and three in 1735. Le Sage was in his 48th year when the first instalment appeared, and already was known as a student and translator of Spanish letters. Long afterward, three sev eral charges of plagiarism were brought against him, alleging his more or less complete de pendence upon a Spanish original, Voltaire maintaining that Le Sage had merely adapted the Marcos de Obregon' of Vicente Espinel, Padre Isla assuming that he had exactly ren dered into French a lost Spanish manuscript, and J. A. Llorente ingeniously attempting to identify this manuscript as a novel by Antonio de Solis y Rivadeneyra, which, he declared, Le Sage had further used in his 'Bachelor of Salamanca.' All three charges have been duly heard and dismissed by scholars, who at most have found, in 'Gil Bias,' a few passages sug gested by the Spanish novels — especially by 'Marcos de Obregon' (1618)— together with Spanish local color and a picaresque plan. This plan involves the autobiography of an easy going fellow rising through the service of various masters whose traits and wiles he describes in satirical vein. His shifts of con dition enable him to survey ironically different social conditions. His ups and downs are many, but his main drift is from indigence to prosperity.
Le Sage perceived the possibility of thus re viewing French society and human nature in general, and the advantage of being able to cloak his satire beneath a Spanish disguise. He refined what was crude and inartistic in the Peninsular novels; he tempered his satire with wit; he universalized his situations and people, without sacrificing their picturesque quality; and he transformed his protagonist from a 'pIcaro,> or rogue, into an agreeable ad venturer. It is true that Gil Blas helps him self to his uncle's ducats on setting forth in the world, and is forced by bandits to rob on the highway, but, having been more sinned against than sinning, he turns to service, and there after is fairly loyal to his 15 successive masters. These range from a quack, an actress,
and a decrepit old roué, to an elegant mar quise, an archbishop, and the prime ministers of Philip III and Philip IV. Gil Blas shares the special folly of each of these masters, stooping to quackery with Sangrado, to gaming and intrigue with Mathias de Selva and to chicanery at court; but rising to rectitude with the righteous. He is literally all things to all men. In the end, however, he has learned that honesty is the best policy. His experiences in service occupy but half of the story, which is made up, for the rest, of accounts of his' progress from town to town when out of a place, and of the activities of those whom he meets, and their extended life-histories. Al though several tales are lugged in by main force, most of the many episodes are knit more closely to the main action than was ever the case in the Spanish novels.
As compared with these, 'Gil Bias' shows, further, a development of personality in its principal actors, the avoidance of any gross realism that might offend, a tendency to mini mize the portrayal of low life and emphasize that of the middle and the upper classes, and to replace attacks upon particular evils by laughter at inconsistencies of character. In stead of ignoring morality, like the Spanish burlesque fictions, or tediously obtruding it, like 'Guzman de Alfarache) or Picara Jus dna,' 'Gil Bias' suggests, without a word of sermonizing, that virtue is the road to hap piness. As a novel, it constitutes the most im portant link in the chain of picaresque in fluence that reaches from 17th-century Spain to 18th-century England. Smollett in particular felt its charm, but most of his contemporaries knew and admired it, and in all civilized coun tries it is to-day recognized as the finest ex ample of its kind. The best single discussion of 'Gil Bias' will be found in 'Le Sage ro mancier' (1890), by Leo Claretie.