bildungsroman

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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.

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Definitions (1)

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

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Examples (35)

  • The armchair Kakutanis of the world have weighed in on Selena Roberts' bildungsroman, and their verdict is a resounding "nay."
  • I suppose it was supposed to be a bildungsroman of sorts, but the character's journey didn't make sense in that I didn't see him change as much as the author assumed he had. —  A Motley Vision
  • And not only is it doing very well on the Cinecultist is a fan, calling the film "a bildungsroman for the emo set." —  GreenCine Daily
  • The Last Samurai make for a particularly interesting comparison, because the films do not, as one might expect, follow parallel bildungsroman structures, despite each telling the story of a stranger adapting to a new culture. —  GreenCine Daily
  • The Broom of the System, which Wallace once referred to as a "sensitive little self-obsessed bildungsroman"; indeed, the book's kooky plot is less significant than its author's relationship with the power of language, as embodied in a protagonist increasingly convinced she's nothing but a character in someone else's stories. —  Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch
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Etymologies (1)

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  1. 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).
 

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