December '11 / Bildungsroman Reading Poll

[Scheherazade]

Please nominate the Bildungsroman novel you would like to read in December by November 1st.

[Scheherazade]

I will nominate The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz.

[Charles Darnay]

Hmm....Wao does sound good.

But for the sake of this is an poll - I will throw

"The Glass Bead Game" by Hesse into the mix if I may.

[Stewed]

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Can't go wrong with Goethe.

[Dark Muse]

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

[Scheherazade]

Nominations so far:

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

2. The Glass Bead Game by Hesse

3. Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by Goethe

4. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

[OrphanPip]

It can only loosely be described as a bildungsroman, but I'm going to nominate anyway.

Orlando: a Biography by Virginia Woolf.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

What the hell does "bildungsroman" mean?

[Dark Muse]

What the hell does "bildungsroman" mean?

It is basically a coming of age novel

You can read the details about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildungsroman

[Charles Darnay]

Literally, it's an "education novel" - tracking a youth for ignorance to maturity via some form of education. Of course since its development (popularized by Goethe I believe) it has taken on some variations.

[Abookinthebath]

What the hell does "bildungsroman" mean?

Glad someone asked that!

[Paulclem]

I had to look it up too.

I've got Hesse's The Glass Bead Game, and I've wanted to read it for a while. I think I'll nominate Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

My daughter is in Japan at this moment on a school exchange. (Lucky devil - I went to Northumberland with the school. Not that there's anything wrong with Northumberland - it's very underrated, but it's not apan.) So I'll go with the Japanese flow.

[TurquoiseSunset]

Even though it's considered a children's book, I would like to nominate Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

[Abookinthebath]

My daughter is in Japan at this moment on a school exchange. (Lucky devil - I went to Northumberland with the school. Not that there's anything wrong with Northumberland - it's very underrated, but it's not apan.) So I'll go with the Japanese flow.


WOW! That sounds amazing!! I think I only got as far as Granada Studios tour!

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Would On the Road by Jack Kerouac count as being bildungsroman?

[Scheherazade]

Nominations so far:

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

2. The Glass Bead Game by Hesse

3. Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by Goethe

4. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

5. Orlando: a Biography by Virginia Woolf

6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

7. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

8. On the Road by Jack Kerouac


Last two nominations up for grabs!

[Calidore]

How about Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa? It's a fictionalized biography of legendary Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. It's like a Japanese Dumas novel in tone (and like most of his novels, it was first published as a newspaper serial).

Amazon summary:

Miyamoto Musashi was the child of an era when Japan was emerging from decades of civil strife. Lured to the great Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 by the hope of becoming a samurai-without really knowing what it meant-he regains consciousness after the battle to find himself lying defeated, dazed and wounded among thousands of the dead and dying. On his way home, he commits a rash act, becomes a fugitive and brings life in his own village to a standstill-until he is captured by a weaponless Zen monk.

The lovely Otsu, seeing in Musashi her ideal of manliness, frees him from his tortuous punishment, but he is recaptured and imprisoned. During three years of solitary confinement, he delves into the classics of Japan and China. When he is set free again, he rejects the position of samurai and for the next several years pursues his goal relentlessly, looking neither to left nor to right.

Ever so slowly it dawns on him that following the Way of the Sword is not simply a matter of finding a target for his brute strength. Continually striving to perfect his technique, which leads him to a unique style of fighting with two swords simultaneously, he travels far and wide, challenging fighters of many disciplines, taking nature to be his ultimate and severest teacher and undergoing the rigorous training of those who follow the Way. He is supremely successful in his encounters, but in the Art of War he perceives the way of peaceful and prosperous governance and disciplines himself to be a real human being.

He becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and been touched by. And, inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival.

[Stewed]

On the Road's a picaresque. Similar but not the same.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

It can't be both?

[Charles Darnay]

It can't be both?

I'd call it both. Although Sal is not a youth - a defining feature in most bildungsroman - his journey is still from point A to maturity via some form of "education" - the education that many at the time idealized, the one on the road.

So yes.

[TheFifthElement]

Whilst there's still a nomination up for grabs can I nominate Black Swan Green by David Mitchell?

[Scheherazade]

Nominations for December:

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

2. The Glass Bead Game by Hesse

3. Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by Goethe

4. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

5. Orlando: a Biography by Virginia Woolf

6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

7. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

8. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

9. Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa

10. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

[Paulclem]

WOW! That sounds amazing!! I think I only got as far as Granada Studios tour!

Yeah- how things change. She's at a language specialist school though, so she's lucky.

[qimissung]

I would be interested in Orlando, Never Let Me Go, or Black Swan Green. I hesitate to vote, because I have a horrendous track record for following through with these book clubs, although I like the idea of them. But I'll be watching the outcome of this one.

[Scheherazade]

No clears winner emerging as yet... We need more votes!

[TheMadStork]

:lurk5:

Can't vote yet (seeing as this is my first post), but I'll be participating regardless of the outcome. I can attest that Musashi, Oscar Wao, and OWEN MEANY are all great books.

[TurquoiseSunset]

Blech. I can't read 'The Glass Bead Game' again. I hated it the first time around, so if it wins I will just read 'Anne of Green Gables' anyway :D

[Paulclem]

Don't punish yourself so. I've got the Glass Bead Game poised and ready to read should it come up trumps...or beads...or counters

[Paulclem]

4-3 to On The Road - and I'd jumped the gun and begun The Glass Bead Game. I liked On The Road, but I haven't read the Hesse.

[BlackCat]

anything BUT Black Swan Green :ack2::ack2::ack2:

[TurquoiseSunset]

4-3 to On The Road - and I'd jumped the gun and begun The Glass Bead Game. I liked On The Road, but I haven't read the Hesse.

So, how's the reading going? Do you like it? I had also decided to just go ahead and read 'Anne' once I'm done with my current read.

[Paulclem]

So, how's the reading going? Do you like it? I had also decided to just go ahead and read 'Anne' once I'm done with my current read.

Only just started it. Currently reading The Deerslayer by J Fenimore Cooper. Want to finish that too. I like Hesse's style though. I enjoyed Steppenwolf, and the discussion we had afterwards was very enjoyable and illuminating.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Well, I've started On The Road. Has anyone else?

[Charles Darnay]

'bout halfway through. I figured it was time for a re-read of this - been a few years.