Question

bildungsroman \BIL-doongs-roh-mahn\

Accepted Answer

nounA novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character.["Bildungsroman" is the combination of two German words: "Bildung," meaning "education," and "Roman," meaning "novel." Fittingly, a "bildungsroman" is a novel that deals with the formative years of the main character -- in particular, his or her psychological development and moral education. The bildungsroman usually ends on a positive note with the hero's foolish mistakes and painful disappointments over and a life of usefulness ahead. Goethe's late 18th-century work Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship) is often cited as the classic example of this type of novel. Though the term is primarily applied to novels, in recent years, some English speakers have begun to apply the term to films that deal with a youthful character's coming-of-age.]“Divided into three parts, the bildungsroman follows Lizzie from her teenage years in a Catholic boarding school to a summer in Paris as an au pair, to her first year of freedom as an adult in Dublin.” - Sarah Gilmartin; A Woman’s Take on Chauvinistic and Grim 1970s Ireland; The Irish Times (Dublin); Dec 6, 2014.

Bildungsroman Moral Psychological Main Meaning Years Term Bil Doongs Roh Mahn