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Bildungsroman

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A Bildungsroman (ˈbɪldʊŋs.roˌmaːn/, German: "novel of self-cultivation") is a novelistic form that concentrates on the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the protagonist usually from childhood to maturity. Sometimes it is referred to as a "Coming Of Age Story." These themes are now often portrayed in films and animation as well as novels.

Bildungsroman usually contain the following course:

  • The protagonist grows from boy to man or girl to woman.
  • The protagonist must have some reason to go on this journey. A loss or discontent must jar him or her at an early stage away from the home or family setting.
  • The process of maturing is long, arduous, and gradual, consisting of repeated clashes between the needs or desires of the hero and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order. This bears some similarity to Sigmund Freud's concept of the pleasure principle versus the reality principle.
  • Eventually, the spirit and values of the social order become manifest in the protagonist, who is then accommodated into society. The novel ends with an assessment by the protagonist of himself/herself and his/her new place in that society.
  • The character is generally making a smooth movement away from conformity. Major conflict is self vs. society or individuality vs. conformity.
  • There are themes of exile or escape.

Within the genre, an Entwicklungsroman is a story of general growth rather than self-culture; an Erziehungsroman focuses on training and formal education; and a Künstlerroman is about the development of an artist and shows a growth of the self.

Many other genres include elements of the Bildungsroman as a prominent part of their story lines; for example, a military story frequently shows a raw recruit receiving a baptism of fire and becoming a battle-hardened soldier. A high fantasy quest may also show a transformation from an adolescent protagonist into an adult aware of his/her powers or lineage.

List of Bildungsromane

References

  • Buckley, Jerome H., Season of Youth (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1974).
  • Jeffers, Thomas L., Apprenticeships: The Bildungsroman from Goethe to Santayana (New York: Palgrave, 2005).
  • Abrams, M.H. Glossary of Literary Terms - Eighth Edition (Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005).
  • Vaughan, Brian K., "Y the Last Man #60" (DC Comics 2008)



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