"The picaresque novel (Spanish: "picaresca", from "pícaro", for "rogue" or "rascal") is a popular subgenre of prose fiction which is usually satirical and depicts in realistic and often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society. As indicated by its name, this style of novel originated in Spain, where it was possibly influenced by Arabic literature (specifically the maqama genre, which also featured the episodic exploits of a rogue character), flourished in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and continues to influence modern literature."