Bildungsroman

[synesthesiac]

Any good contemporary Bildungsroman you can recommend?
I like the genre, and want to read a really good one. Any suggestions...

[Schokokeks]

Hi there, synesthesiac (nice name !), and welcome to the Forum :wave: !

Bildungsroman is indeed a very interesting genre :nod:. The last contemporary one I've read was Paul Auster's Moon Palace, which I found to be a blend of Bildungsroman and picaro novel. Very worth reading.

However, I could also recommend several non-contemporary ones, mostly from 18th and 19th century German literature, where Bildungsromane were flourishing. Let me know if you are also interested in these :nod:.

Happy reading ! :)

[synesthesiac]

Hey!
thanks for the greeting :D
Yes, I would be interested in something non-contemporary. The thing is I have been reading contemporary ones lately, and I'd be interested in something more recent. A good book is more than acceptable nevertheless..what are your suggestions

[bazarov]

I doubt you'll find it, but Return of Filip Latinovicz from probably the greatest Croatian writer Miroslav Krleža is my pick.

[synesthesiac]

Sounds pretty obscure, but I'll try to get a hold of it. Thanks :nod:

[Schokokeks]

A good book is more than acceptable nevertheless..what are your suggestions
Okay, on the English part, David Copperfield, Great Expectations and Nicolas Nickleby, all by Charles Dickens, come to my mind, as well as Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, and maybe even Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
The French writer Stendhal gave a fascinating account of an ambitious and unscrupulous man's social rise in Red and Black.
As to German literature, Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship is considered to be the model of a Bildungsroman. Furthermore, you could try The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, or Demian by Hermann Hesse, if these are not too obscure for you.

If you don't mind extending the definition of Bildungsroman a bit, you might also like to include some of these more modern titles:
The Rabbit triology by John Updike,
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger,
and Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney.

Hopefully one of these will suit your taste ;).

[synesthesiac]

Hmm, I sort of liked Jany Eyre, but I think I'm gonna go with Thomas Mann. I kinda wanna see other writings of his other than Death in Venice.

[Schokokeks]

Hmm, I sort of liked Jany Eyre, but I think I'm gonna go with Thomas Mann. I kinda wanna see other writings of his other than Death in Venice.
Good pick, then ;). Let us know how you liked it :nod:.

[andave_ya]

What's bildungsroman? I've never heard the term before?

[vheissu]

I think it's any work which is centred around the development of one character. It usually goes from the early stages of life and the protagonist has some 'quest', something he/she needs to go through in life.
So it narrates the difficulties, losses and failures which are usually inflicted from family and society.
And in the end the character has reached he/she's destination by assessing himself/herself and their place in society.
Is it a german term?I'm not too sure, just remember doing it ages and ages ago at school.

The protrait of an artist as a young man by James Joyce is another example

[andave_ya]

so something like, David Copperfield or Kidnapped?

[Scheherazade]

What's bildungsroman? I've never heard the term before?Have a look at this site, Andave:

http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=119

[andave_ya]

Thanks Scheherazade. It's funny, but within a day after I posted that I came across the term in a Times book. Talk about coincidence!

[Nightshade]

ehem what about Tristim Shandy? seeing as he isnt born till almost a third of tehway through the story?

[ennison]

'Green Henry' By Gottfried Keller. Swiss. Massive tome though. Most of that type of work tend to be. I've a feeling that Musil's 'Man Without Qualities' (Also massive) might qualify as that type or if not it partakes of that approach.

[Whifflingpin]

Ha - I've just recommended "John Halifax, Gentleman" in a different thread - it belongs here too, I think.

?? "Clockwork Orange"

?? "Tulku"

?? "Giles Goat-Boy"

To name three (very different) post 1960 novels that might be included.