The Bildungsroman then and now : revisitations of a narrative form

Abstract

This dissertation intends to explore the developments of the genre of the Bildungsroman in contemporary fiction, approximately from the late twentieth-century onwards. The idea of the Bildungsroman is briefly touched upon in the introduction, which entails the historical view of the form as part of German culture, and its development in other countries. In the first chapter, the genre is traced back to its roots in the eighteenth century, followed by an overview of the genre’s developments up until the twentieth-century, particularly in English literature. The second chapter, then, analyses typical Bildungsroman elements in John Williams’s Stoner (1965), taken as a contemporary example of the genre which acts as a means of uniting the traditional and the contemporary Bildungsroman. As it assesses traditional Bildungsroman elements found within the novel, this chapter brings to light contemporary characteristics of the genre. Following this, the third chapter tackles the idea of the anti-Bildungsroman, with a focus on the diversity of the genre within contemporary fiction. Additionally, the enduring appeal of the Bildungsroman tradition is considered by taking a look at contemporary revisitations of the tradition. This chapter takes into account both fiction and its criticism, establishing the way the tradition has undergone transformation. Finally, this dissertation concludes with a reflection on what makes the Bildungsroman distinctive from other narrative forms and questions the existence of a contemporary Bildungsroman.