Bildungsroman as a genre in Literature

What is Bildungsroman?

Bildungsroman is a genre of novel that shows a young protagonist’s journey from childhood to adulthood (or immaturity to maturity), with a focus on the trials and misfortunes that affect the character’s growth.

Some key details about Bildungsromans:

• The word Bildungsroman is a combination of the German word bildung, meaning formation, and roman, meaning novel. The word Bildungsroman is typically capitalized because of its German origin (in German, all nouns are capitalized).

• The term " coming-of-age novel" is sometimes used interchangeably with Bildungsroman. This is not necessarily incorrect—in most cases the terms can be used interchangeably—but Bildungsroman carries the connotation of a specific and well-defined literary tradition, whereas " coming-of- age novel" is more of a catch-all term.

• A Bildungsroman typically begins with a protagonist who feels alienated and alone, but ends on a positive note with the character finding a sense of belonging or self-realization, though many authors have played with this formula. (Typical examples in English: Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield and Great Expectations, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and James Joyce’s Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man )

While people have always told stories about coming of age, the specific genre of the Bildungsroman originated in Germany in the early 19th century. In its early form, the Bildungsroman was regarded as a novel that had educational as well as philosophical value for young adults, because it portrayed characters who not only strove to better themselves, but who were able to outgrow or leave behind childish behaviors in the pursuit of a higher aim.

The example given most often is the German writer Johann Goethe’s novel titled Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, in which the main character (Wilhelm) seeks to escape the mediocrity of his middle-class upbringing and lead the life of an artist instead. The book contains many of the plot elements that later became hallmarks of the genre: Wilhelm endures heartbreak, has his artistic aspirations crushed, gets sent away from home by his parents to learn a thing or two, squanders his fortune unwisely, and faces financial ruin.

By the end of the novel, however, Wilhelm shows signs of having matured as a result of his experiences. Not only has he begun to find some success for himself as an actor, but the book ends with him taking a strong moral stance: he sets off on a journey to find and reprimand another character, whose selfish behaviour had ruinous consequences for one of Wilhelm’s friends.

This focus on personal growth and self-realization—particularly through making and learning from mistakes—remains the key feature of the Bildungsroman. The genre grew in popularity dramatically during the 20^th century and spread to different cultures around the world.

Jonathan Culler on the Bidungsroman

The conventions of the genre lead us to expect an opposition between hero and world which will make the plot an intelligible history of resistance and accommodation. Illusions will be destroyed; the world will teach him something, whether he choose to accept its lessons; and the conclusion, as the climax of an encounter with the world, will structure that encounter in ways that give it meaning. What happens to the hero will make clear what was learned or not learned, what price must be paid for social integration and whether it is too high.

The conventions of the genre lead us to expect an opposition between hero and world which will make the plot an intelligible history of resistance and accommodation. Illusions will be destroyed; the world will teach him something, whether he choose to accept its lessons; and the conclusion, as the climax of an encounter with the world, will structure that encounter in ways that give it meaning. What happens to the hero will make clear what was learned or not learned, what price must be paid for social integration and whether it is too high.

Conclusion-

While there are many books in the world that are about a character’s maturation process, not all of them would be considered Bildungsromans. Early German examples of Bildungsroman focused heavily on the concept of self-realization and learning from youthful mistakes, while more contemporary examples of Bildungsroman are often less overtly moralistic, and take more liberties with the traditional format. In all cases of Bildungsroman, however, the writer sets out to show how a single person is formed by people, places, and the passage of time.