| Bildungsroman |
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DESCRIPTION OF GENRE A Bildungsroman is, most generally, the story of a single individual's growth and development within the context of a defined social order. The growth process, at its roots a quest story, has been described as both "an apprenticeship to life" and a "search for meaningful existence within society." To spur the hero or heroine on to their journey, some form of loss or discontent must jar them at an early stage away from the home or family setting. The process of maturity is long, arduous, and gradual, consisting of repeated clashes between the protagonist's needs and desires and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order. Eventually, the spirit and values of the social order become manifest in the protagonist, who is then accommodated into society. The novel ends with an assessment by the protagonist of himself and his new place in that society. Within the genre, an ''Entwicklungsroman'' is a story of general growth rather than self-culture; an ''Erziehungsroman'' focuses on training and formal education; and a '' Kunstlerroman '' is about the development of an artist. Many other genres include a Bildungsroman as a prominent part of their story lines: a military story frequently shows a raw recruit receiving his baptism of fire and become a battle-hardened soldier, or a High Fantasy quest transforms an adolscent into an adult aware of his powers or lineage. PROMINENT EXAMPLES
FILMS Many such books have been translated to film. Other films exhibiting the Bildungsroman form are listed here, showing the character and the actor playing the role.
SEE ALSO See Buckley, Jerome H. ''Season of Youth'' (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1974) and Jeffers, Thomas L. ''Apprenticeships: The Bildungsroman from Goethe to Santayana'' (New York: Palgrave, 2005). |
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