Bildungsroman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A bildungsroman (IPA: [ˈbɪldʊŋs.roˌmaːn]/, German: "novel of personal development") is a novel which traces the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character from (usually) childhood to maturity.
Among the components of a bildungsroman are the following:
- Growth from a child to a man or woman
- To spur the hero onto his or her journey, some form of 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 protagonist's needs and desires and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order.
- 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
- Theme 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 a bildungsroman as a prominent part of their story lines; for example, a military story frequently shows a raw recruit receiving his/her 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. The concept also carries over to many role-playing games, where characters frequently gain experience points and/or "levels" that make them more powerful through the course of their adventures.
[edit] See also
- Bildungsroman examples (pre-1930)
- Bildungsroman examples (post-1930)
- Coming of age
- The Hero with a Thousand Faces
- The Golden Bough
- The House on Mango Street
[edit] 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).
