What is a Bildungsroman? (And how should I call it so I don’t sound like an idiot?)
It’s easier than it looks.
First of all, you have to be confident when you talk about the German comic Bildungsroman. Repeat after me: House-man-man. Or, if you want to go German, Build-oongs-row-man.
Easy-peasy.
By the way, this issue is covered because Germans use all their names.
Second, show that you know what you are talking about. Break it down in German style.
“Bildung” means “education” or “formation.”
And “roman” doesn’t refer to Romans, it means “novel.” Remember, Romance is also a form of vision.
Put them together, we get (drum roll) – ae established a newspaper!
Are you ready for more?
Definition of Bildungsroman
In its simplest form, the Bildungsroman is a coming-of-age story. But it’s more fiction than biography or history.
The author covered the early years of the actor’s life. Our main characters experience loss, struggle, acceptance and growth (phew!).
So, if it’s an upcoming novel, why not call it that instead of that complicated German word?
Simple. Because it’s more complicated than that.
A Bildungsroman has a few requirements, a coming-of-age story does not.
For starters, he often refers to his hero in the name of the work. But it can’t just be a series of childhood horror stories told by an adult for kicks and laughs.
The child will develop and grow with the evidence of reflection and maturity. Teams must act as a barrier and/or a catalyst for our child’s character growth.
In summary, there are many stories to come, but only some are considered Bildungsroman novels.
The origins and history of the Bildungsroman
Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s Journal of 1795-96 Training Wilhelm Meister (Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre) is considered the first novel in the German Bildungsroman genre.
But, the symbol itself was invented by the scientist and teacher Karl Morgenstern in 1819. He used the term to describe his own journey of intellectual growth.
About 5O years later, another German, the psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey, revived the term and explained its basic principles in his work. Schleiermacher’s lips.
However, there are Bildungsroman stories that precede Goethe’s stories.
The ancient Greeks followed Jason as he captured the Golden Horde.
Medieval Romances of England and France exalt King Arthur by recounting his trials, beginning with his reign in his youth.
In China, audiences in the 18th century enjoyed the coming of age of a Chinese boy with an obsession with his cousins. The Story of Stone by Cao Xueqin.
The nature of the Bildungsroman
One could argue that the Bildungsroman is a spiritual or intellectual form of the hero’s journey because the main structure is very similar.
Check it out:
- The hero experiences a loss and must embark on a journey (physical, emotional, intellectual) to heal this loss.
- A hero fights against a section of society.
- A hero grows up wiser and learns to accept society.
The main difference is that in the Bildungsroman, the hero is a child or youth, and he enters into the nature of the protagonist and the psychology of growing up to maturity.
Virtual environment in Bildungsromans
The death and struggle of an actor can take place against the backdrop of almost any theme and conflict imaginable.
Popular backup environments include:
- Financial and professional problems
- Withdrawal from loved ones
- Seeking God and the Great One
- Racism
- Sexuality and sexual identity
- Consistency and disobedience
- Loss of purity
- Escape from reality
- Understanding the subject of personal experience
- class struggle
As you can see, Bildungsromans can literally be set in the context of any sensitive young person!
6 Examples of Bildungsroman that illustrate this style
As mentioned earlier, the Bildungsroman was first included in Goethe’s 18th-century novels.
After the novel was translated into English in 1824 and became popular, this literary device became commonplace.
What follows is two centuries worth of famous Bildungsroman examples and the protagonist’s journey that defines them.
Here are six great examples from different eras in German, British, Irish and American literature.
The Education of Wilhelm Meister (Goethe, 1795)
Background:
Young Wilhelm wants to escape the life of a passer-by, middle-class life and live the exciting life of an artist.
Death and Struggle:
Unfortunately, this artistic dream has been shattered. Then his heart breaks.
In an act of tough love, his parents kick him out.
Unfortunately, he spends his money foolishly and goes broke. He lost his dreams, his love, his home, and his money.
Mental growth:
At the end of the novel, Wilhelm’s personal development is remarkable, and he has matured because of his experiences.
He becomes a respected and mature actor who practices his new morals and values to save his friend.
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë, 1847)
Background:
In this female Bildungsroman, young Jane is an impoverished orphan, abused by her family, and deprived of nutritious food at a boarding school. She is small but very careful and thoughtful.
Death and Struggle:
Aside from her orphaned state, Jane loses her best friend (Helen Burns) to tuberculosis and her mentor (Miss Temple) to marriage.
As the story progresses, Jane loses everything (her home, her job, her possessions) when she chooses virtue over her lover who lies to keep her.
However, his courage is eventually rewarded with a fulfilling lifestyle.
Mental growth:
By the end of the novel, Jane has discovered the true meaning of family and friendship.
She is financially independent, married to the one she loves, and a mother.
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens, 1850)
Background:
Young David finds himself in a cruel situation when his widowed mother remarries a cruel and selfish man.
From each living arrangement, David learned something valuable about himself and about mankind, although it took him time to discover everything.
Death and Struggle:
David loses his family, at different times, as the novel progresses.
It begins with the death of his father and ends with the death of his first wife and unborn child.
He gets into financial difficulties and cheaters, and he has to learn to trust himself to survive and prosper.
Mental growth:
By the end of the novel, a wiser David has the family David never had, and the love of a kind and nurturing woman.
Agnes and David have been married for ten years and have three children.
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce, 1916)
Background:
Young Stephen is described as a sensitive and creative boy. He sees a side of nature that society often misses.
Death and Struggle:
As a child of Ireland, Stephen witnesses political division and religious conflict.
He sees cruelty and has faith in his innocence.
He and his family are struggling to connect. Money separates them. Anti-Sexism and Religious Expressions of Rage in Stephen.
Mental growth:
After much personal suffering, Stephen finally decided to devote his life to writing. He left his homeland for a new start in Europe.
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee, 1960)
Background:
Young Jean Louise Finch, aka Scout, is the tomboy daughter of widowed lawyer Atticus Finch.
Through his eyes and mouth, the author explores the themes of injustice, prejudice, and racism in America’s Depression Era South.
Death and Struggle:
Scout loses her innocence when she experiences, in heartbreaking detail, the destructive power of racism through the trial of Jim Robinson, a black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman.
Mental growth:
Scout finds some hope for humanity when she and her brother witness how their father put his own life on the line to protect Robinson.
The end of the novel reveals a mature Jean Louise who has seen, most frighteningly, how wrong life can be.
Harry Potter Series (JK Rowling, 1997-2007)
Background:
Young Harry Potter is an orphan living with his terrible aunt and uncle when several messages arrive asking him to come to Hogwarts School of Magic.
The series spanned the years Harry attended the school.
Death and Struggle:
Harry lost his parents before the series began. He is struggling to create a new family with his friends and teachers at Hogwarts.
He loses some of these friends as the series unfolds.
His biggest struggle is to come into his own as a true wizard while defeating the evil Voldemort, who is his opponent at every turn.
Mental growth:
The epilogue of the last book takes place 19 years after Harry defeats Voldemort.
This hero is married to his friend Ginny Weasley, and they have three children.
He is still friends with Ron and Hermione, and is now teaching at Hogwarts himself.
These six examples will give you a good idea of what a Bildungsroman is all about.
If you want more exposure to this type of essay, check out Little women by Louisa May Alcott, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger and House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.
Bildungsroman? I got this.
See?
That’s not bad – once you get past the pronunciation part.
Well, I hope you feel more confident and ready to attack that AP Literature class.
Or that university professor who laughed while handing out a list of 500 must-know words.
Now you can smile like a conquering hero and say, “Buildoogsrowman? I got this.”
Just don’t write it on the board, okay?
