Bildungsroman
Pronounced BIL-dungz-roh-mahn.
Bildungsroman: A novel that follows a protagonist's formation from youth toward maturity.
The bildungsroman turns growing up into plot architecture: each episode is a lesson the protagonist misreads until, by the end, the person and the reader arrive together.
Bildungsroman examples
"Jane Eyre traces its heroine from unloved orphan to a woman who chooses her own terms."
— Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
"David Copperfield follows its narrator from birth to authorship - Dickens's own favorite of his novels."
— David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
"Scout Finch narrates her own moral education across three Maycomb summers."
— To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
"The German term - 'formation novel' - comes from Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, the form's usual starting point."
— Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Goethe
Spot the Bildungsroman
Score: 0/0A novel that follows a protagonist's formation from youth toward maturity.
"Jane Eyre traces its heroine from unloved orphan to a woman who chooses her own terms."
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Bildungsroman: common questions
What is bildungsroman in literature?
A novel that follows a protagonist's formation from youth toward maturity. The bildungsroman turns growing up into plot architecture: each episode is a lesson the protagonist misreads until, by the end, the person and the reader arrive together.
What is an example of bildungsroman?
A classic example is "Jane Eyre traces its heroine from unloved orphan to a woman who chooses her own terms." (Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë).
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