swap_horiz Bel-Ami Alternatives

1

Lazarillo de Tormes

The Lazarillo de Tormes is a foundational Spanish novella published around 1554. It’s notable as an early example of pic...

Classic Spanish Satire Rogue

9.7 Brilliant

2

Dead Souls

Nikolai Gogol’s *Dead Souls* is a 19th-century Russian picaresque novel centered around Pavel Chichikov’s bizarre scheme...

Russian Classic 19TH Century Satire

9.2 Excellent

3

Gil Blas

Gil Blas is a lengthy French novel by Alain-René Lesage, spanning from 1715 to 1735. This picaresque work follows the ad...

18TH Century Classic French Satire

8.9 Great

4

Memórias de um Sargento de Milícias

"Memórias de um Sargento de Milícias" is a Brazilian novel written by Manuel Antônio de Almeida, originally published as...

Classic 19TH Century Satire Rogue

8.5 Great

5

The Luck of Barry Lyndon

"The Luck of Barry Lyndon" is a picaresque novel by British author William Makepeace Thackeray, first published serially...

19TH Century Satire Rogue British

8.2 Great

6

The Mangy Parrot

The Mangy Parrot, originally titled El Periquillo Sarniento, is a picaresque novel by Mexican writer José Joaquín Fernán...

Classic 19TH Century Satire Rogue

8.1 Great

7

The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak

The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak is an 1867 novel by Belgian author Charles De Coster. It relocates the...

Classic 19TH Century Satire Belgian

8.1 Great

8

The Diary of a Chambermaid

The Diary of a Chambermaid is a French novel written by Octave Mirbeau and published in 1900. The narrative is presented...

French 19TH Century Satire Servant

8.0 Great

9

Fasana-e-Azad

Fasana-e-Azad is an Urdu-language picaresque novel by Ratan Nath Sarshar, serialized in the Lucknow newspaper Avadh Akhb...

Classic 19TH Century Satire Urdu

7.8 Good

10

Bay Ganyo

Bay Ganyo is a satirical novel written by Bulgarian author Aleko Konstantinov, first published in 1895. The story follow...

Classic 19TH Century Bulgarian Satire

7.8 Good

11

L'Histoire comique de Francion

"L'Histoire comique de Francion" is a French novel written by Charles Sorel and first published in 1623. Written in the...

Classic French Satire Rogue

7.7 Good

12

The Papess Joanne

The Papess Joanne is an 1866 Greek novel written by Emmanuel Rhoides that reimagines the medieval legend of Pope Joan. T...

Classic 19TH Century Satire Historical

7.7 Good

13

Le Roman bourgeois

Le Roman bourgeois is a satirical French novel written by Antoine Furetière and published in 1666. The narrative sharply...

Classic French Satire Urban

7.4 Good

14

Modern Idyll

Modern Idyll is a Russian satirical work by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, also known in English as Contemporary Idyll. It...

Russian Classic 19TH Century Satire

7.2 Good

15

Ivan Vejeeghen

Ivan Vejeeghen is the English title of Ivan Vyzhigin, a Russian picaresque novel by Thaddeus Bulgarin published in 1829....

Russian Classic 19TH Century Satire

6.7 Fair

16

The Russian Gil Blas

The Russian Gil Blas is a picaresque novel by Vasily Narezhny, published in Russian in 1814. Its title and structure ref...

Russian Classic 19TH Century Satire

6.6 Fair

17

The Man of Many Sufferings

Operating within the picaresque genre, this novel uses the episodic suffering of its downtrodden protagonist to satirize...

Classic 19TH Century Satire Rogue

6.2 Fair

18

The Exile of 1831

This picaresque novel follows the wandering life of a protagonist displaced by the historical upheavals of 1831, using a...

Classic 19TH Century Satire Greek

6.1 Fair

19

Xouth the Ape

Employing an animal protagonist, this picaresque novel follows the titular ape's episodic adventures, using satirical fa...

Classic 19TH Century Satire Greek

5.9 Mediocre

20

Bizarro

Bizarro is an unfinished novella by the Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott. The story concerns Francesco Moscato, a Cala...

Classic 19TH Century Satire Rogue

5.7 Mediocre