The fine art of the picaresque novel: How Barry Hughart showed me that absurd humour is a world view
Some books you read. Others... transport you.
Barry Hughart's Master Li and Number Ten Ox series does both – and then does things for which there is no verb in any language. Hughart himself called his genre ‘A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was’ – and that's exactly where the magic lies.
At the centre of the story are Master Li, a brilliant, ancient detective with ‘a slight flaw in his character’, and Number Ten Ox, his young, kind-hearted sidekick with bear-like strength and more sense of honour than is good for him. Together they solve murder cases, uncover imperial plots and stumble through a world full of dragons, demons, madmen and officials.
Sounds like Sherlock Holmes in kung fu slippers? Almost.
Hughart's language is a balancing act between classic fairy-tale poetry, witty slapstick and philosophical depth, barely pausing for breath between a teahouse joke and an existential insight.
He doesn't just write stories – he tells them, like a legendary wandering bard with too much time on his hands and too little decency.
For an author like me – who loves stories in which the absurd secretly creeps up on the truth – Hughart is a kindred spirit.
He takes old myths and reworks them until they seem modern – without denying their roots.
He makes fun of his characters – without ever disrespecting them.
And he tells – in all seriousness – the craziest things as if they were the most normal things in the world.
🧡 Why is this inspiring?
Because humour here is not an ingredient, but an attitude.
Because it shows that you can be profound and silly at the same time.
And because these stories prove that world-building can be crazy, sensual, illogical and completely coherent at the same time – if the heart is in the right place.
And if I could choose one moment from the series to capture in an ink drawing, it would be this one:
“I have a slight flaw in my character,” Master Li said. “It is that I am occasionally susceptible to moral lapses.”
(Barry Hughart, Bridge of Birds)
Thank you, Barry Hughart, for this sentence – and for all the others that make no distinction between madness and wisdom.
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