Simplicius Simplicissimus
In other European countries, these Spanish novels were read and imitated. In Germany, Grimmelshausen wrote "Simplicius Simplicissimus" (1669), the most important of non-Spanish picaresque novels. It describes the devastation caused by the Thirty Years' War. Lesage's "Gil Blas" (1715) is a classic example of the genre, which in France had declined into an aristocratic adventure. In Britain, the first example is Thomas Nashe's "The Unfortunate Traveller" (1594) in which a court page, Jack Wilson, exposes the underclass life in a string of European cities through lively, often brutal descriptions. The body of Tobias Smollett's work, and Daniel Defoe's "Moll Flanders" (1722) are considered picaresque, but they lack the sense of religious redemption of delinquency that was very important in Spanish and German novels. The triumph of Moll Flanders is more economic than moral. While the mores of the early 18th century wouldn't permit Moll to be a heroine per se, Defoe hardly disguises his admiration for her resilience and resourcefulness.