Log in or Sign up
  1. bildungsroman love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological, and intellectual development of a usually youthful main character.

Wiktionary

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

Etymologies

  1. Borrowing from German Bildungsroman, from Bildung, from bildunge, from bildunga, from bilidon ("to shape"), from bilodi ("form, shape"), + Roman ("novel"), from French, roman ("novel"). Hence "novel of education" or "novel of formation". (Wiktionary)
  2. German : Bildung, formation (from Middle High German bildunge, from Old High German bildunga, from bilidōn, to shape, from bilōdi, form, shape) + Roman, novel (from French, a story in the vernacular, novel; see roman). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “If nothing else, I would like to determine for myself whether Demanski's view of the possibilities of the modified bildungsroman is a sound one or not.”

    Book Reviewing

  • “Morally he scarcely improves over the course of the novel I've seen it described as a bildungsroman, but I'm not convinced Gully develops enough to merit that.”

    :Acquired Taste

  • “A bildungsroman is defined as “a novel which traces the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character from (usually) childhood to maturity.”

    Song of the Crow by Layne Maheu: Questions

  • “What are the chances of running into the word bildungsroman twice in one crapometer?”

    HH Com 399

  • “On "Spirited Away"--Miyazaki is a master of the female bildungsroman, which is not a common genre.”

    "You Fascinate Me": Interesting Women in Film, 4

  • “The German word bildungsroman is used to describe what we English-speakers know as a”

    TheGloss

  • “A bildungsroman is the Love and Lust study of the growth of a youthful character and thus The World According to Garp is concerned it applies to Irving's novel.”

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows

  • “From this description we understand that McKenzie is writing a variation of the "bildungsroman" (the coming-of-age novel), and that she is taking something of a risk in experimenting with the form.”

    Book Reviewing

  • “Cooking, in other words, was a kind of bildungsroman for civilization itself.”

    The Washington Times stories: Latest Headlines

  • “In the '' bildungsroman '', the protagonist must deal with adversity and conflict,”

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en]

Show 10 more examples...

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

tags (2)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. genre
  1. german words for abstract concepts

Log in or sign up to add your own tag.

Wordmap

(beta)

Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘bildungsroman’.

More lists containing ‘bildungsroman’

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • jeffazi a novel of personal development - a novel which traces the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character from (usually) childhood to maturity. Nov 6, 2007

Tweets

Looking for tweets for bildungsroman.

‘bildungsroman’ has been looked up 4757 times, loved by 8 people, added to 94 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 19.