ABSTRACT
This chapter studies the queerness of rogues in classic picaresque literature and its influence in current digital role-playing video games. To do so, it presents the myth of the rogue as the key element that expanded picaresque literature rhizomatically beyond Spain by explicitly and implicitly influencing other literary traditions and media forms. To study the queer nature of the rogue myth, this chapter explores the queerness of the literary rogue in picaresque novels, its transfer to a selection of video games, and the similar ways both media forms—literature and video games—depict these characters. This analysis of the intermedia relations between picaresque literature and video games seeks to shed light on how and why the traditional queer traits of the rogue have survived the passing of time, evolving and gaining prominence in the process. To achieve this, this chapter uses previous studies on queer time, queer readings of classic literature, and existing analyses of queer characters in video games.
