The Queer Picaresque

Part 1 of 2, on 18th-century Macaroni Prints

Here’s a lightly revised lecture I delivered in Dublin, June 2022 at the Chester Beatty Library.

I use the word Picaresque to explore the explosion of interest in “Macaronis” in late 18th-century English print culture, because it makes me feel like I am living in a picaresque nightmare. The word comes from the Spanish “picaro,” and its etymology gestures…