Bildungsroman

Quick meaning: Bildungsroman is a noun meaning A novel tracing the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character, usually from childhood to maturity.

Meaning

A novel tracing the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character, usually from childhood to maturity.

Example Sentences

Goethe's honorific assignment to the vanguard of a uniquely German novelistic tradition of the bildungsroman simultaneously places him outside the mainstream of the development of the novel.

English speakers are more hospitable to fiction in translation, and yet when was the last time you heard someone mention “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship” or “Elective Affinities,” Goethe’s long fictions? These books have a good claim to have founded two of the major genres of the modern novel—respectively, the Bildungsroman and the novel of adultery.

Word Forms

• bildungsromans
• bildungsromane

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include self-narrative, journey, self-discovery, formation, odyssey, backstory.

Related Dictionary Tools