Bildungsroman

American  

[bil-doongz-roh-mahn, beel-doongks-raw-mahn] / ˈbɪl dʊŋz roʊˌmɑn, ˈbil dʊŋks rɔˌmɑn /

noun

plural

Bildungsromans,

plural

Bildungsromane

1. a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.

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Bildungsroman British  

/ ˈbɪldʊŋsromaːn /

noun

1. a novel concerned with a person's formative years and development

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Etymology

Origin of Bildungsroman

1905–10; < German, equivalent to Bildung formation + -s noun ending in compounds + Roman novel

Example Sentences

Times Book Prize honorees as the winner of the Christopher Isherwood Prize for “Playworld,” a semi-autobiographical novel about a teen growing up in 1980s New York that is described as “less a bildungsroman than a story of miseducation.”

From Los Angeles Times

I love a bildungsroman as a novel conceit and as a framing device.

From Los Angeles Times

As suggested by its subtitle, “The Education of an Artist,” the book is the nonfiction equivalent of a bildungsroman.

From Los Angeles Times

Zevin’s entrancing story of a gamer boy and a gamer girl building a video game empire from scratch is a romantic bildungsroman.

From Los Angeles Times

One of them is the bildungsroman.

From Los Angeles Times