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The bildungsroman ("novel of formation") is a genre of the novel which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood. Change is thus extremely important. The genre is further characterized by a number of formal, topical and thematic features. The term /coming-of-age novel is sometimes used interchangeably with bildungsroman, but its use is usually wider and less technical.

The birth of the bildungsroman is normally dated to the publication of Goethe’s The Apprenticeship of Wilhelm Meister in 1795-96: "Everyone says that Wilhelm Meister is the prototypical Bildungsroman." Although the bildungsroman arose in Germany, it has had extensive influence first in Europe and later throughout the world. Thomas Carlyle translated Goethe’s novel into English, and after its publication in 1824, many British authors wrote novels inspired by it. In the twentieth century, the genre has been particularly popular among women and minority writers, and it has spread to numerous countries around the globe.

It is, however, difficult to evaluate the geographic and temporal distribution of the genre on the basis of the critical literature, because the term “bildungsroman” is used with many different meanings. “[T]here is virtually no agreement on either what constitutes a Bildungsroman or which novels belong to this tradition.” In its narrowest definition, the word “bildungsroman” refers only to German novels, mainly from Goethe’s age. Others use it about novels from any country resembling the German prototype, while yet others use it to refer to any novel in which the protagonist develops.

Examples of the English-language bildungsroman include Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. In America, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye are often regarded as bildungsroman. These novels, however, differ from their European counterparts on so many counts that they are better regarded as reactions to the European bildungsroman.

Term
The term Bildungsroman is German and means novel of Bildung or formation. “Formation” concerns the whole person, and is quite distinct from “education,” which only affects certain aspects and centers on knowledge. Bildung or formation was a central concern in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Germany (a period called the Enlightenment), much written about and debated by such figures as Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803), Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), Friedrich D.E. Schleiermacher (1768-1834, and Georg W. F. Hegel (1770-1831). For Herder, Bildung was the way in which human beings develop their innate qualities, become an organic unity, and further the development of their society. But education may also be a theme in the bildungsroman, as it is in Goethe’s prototype. The interest in education of Goethe’s period found expression in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile: or, On Education  (1762) and Friedrich Schiller’s Aesthetic Education (1795).

The term Bildungsroman was first used by a German professor called Johann Carl Simon Morgenstern in the 1819, but it was Wilhelm Dilthey’s Das Erlebnis und die Dichtung (1906, Experience and Poetry) that brought the term into common usage, first in Germany, and soon after in England. The term is much used today, by literary scholars as well as laymen, but there is no agreement on its meaning, and it is used in many different ways. It is therefore useful to clarify in one’s writing which definition is chosen or to write out one’s own working definition.

In this article, the term is spelled without italics and without a capital because it is used in English and with a meaning that differs somewhat from the original German. The German spelling is retained and marked by italics when the original German usage is intended.

Features
The genre arose during the German Enlightenment. The German term Bildungsroman was coined by Johann Carl Simon Morgenstern in 1820.

A Bildungsroman tells about the growing up or coming of age of a sensitive person who is looking for answers and experience. The genre evolved from folklore tales of a dunce or youngest son going out in the world to seek his fortune. Usually in the beginning of the story there is an emotional loss which makes the protagonist leave on his journey. In a Bildungsroman, the goal is maturity, and the protagonist achieves it gradually and with difficulty. The genre often features a main conflict between the main character and society. Typically, the values of society are gradually accepted by the protagonist and he is ultimately accepted into society – the protagonist's mistakes and disappointments are over. In some works, the protagonist is able to reach out and help others after having achieved maturity.

To be categorized in the genre Bildungsroman, the plot must follow a certain course. The protagonist grows from child to adult in the novel. At an early stage, a loss or some sort of discontent pushes him or her away from home or the family setting, providing an impetus to embark on a journey. The main character often develops through “self actualization”. The process of maturation is long, strenuous and gradual, involving repeated clashes between the protagonist's needs and desires and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order.

There are many other similar genres that focus on the growth of an individual. An Entwicklungsroman ("development novel") is a story of general growth rather than self-cultivation. An Erziehungsroman ("education novel") focuses on training and formal schooling, while a Künstlerroman ("artist novel") is about the development of an artist and shows a growth of the self.

Many genres other than the Bildungsroman can include elements of this genre as prominent parts of their story lines. For example, a military story might show a raw recruit undergoing a baptism by fire and becoming a battle-hardened soldier, while a fantasy quest story may show a transformation from an adolescent protagonist into an adult who is aware of his or her lineage or powers. Yet neither of these genres or story types corresponds exactly to the Bildungsroman.

Literary genre
A genre is a group or collection of books with a similar theme or style. The German Enlightenment started the Bildungsroman genre. Books that are considered to be within this genre are usually written from a protagonist's point of view and in the first person. One of the first books of this type is Hayy ibn Yaqdhan by Ibn Tufail (1100s). A recent example is My Name is Asher Lev, in which Asher is shaped by the help of Jacob Kahn.

Literature

 * Engel, Manfred (2008): "Variants of the Romantic 'Bildungsroman' (with a Short Note on the 'Artist Novel')". In: Gerald Gillespie, Manfred Engel and Bernard Dieterle (eds.), Romantic Prose Fiction (= A Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages, vol. XXIII; ed. by the International Comparative Literature Association). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 263–295. ISBN 978-9027234568.
 * Minden, Michael (1997): The German Bildungsroman: Incest and Inheritance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 * Minden, Michael (1997): The German Bildungsroman: Incest and Inheritance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 * Minden, Michael (1997): The German Bildungsroman: Incest and Inheritance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Category:Bildungsromans Category:Literary genres Category:German words and phrases

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