August 25, 1997

Bildungsroman and Entwicklungsroman

Could you tell me the difference between a "Bildungsroman" and an "Entwicklungsroman"? What's the deal with the latter word, anyway?

Well, the most important differerence is that Bildungsroman is relatively common in English and Entwicklungsroman is so rare that only a few hardcore types will know what it means.

The words, which are so close in meaning as to be almost synonymous, both refer to types of novels common in German literature that discuss the personal development of a single person, typically in youth. A Bildungsroman, from German Bildung 'education; formation' and Roman 'novel', focuses on the esp. moral and spiritual development of the main character. The definitive example is Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (in English, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship), which greatly influenced later German novels. A more recent example is Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain.

If an Entwicklungsroman, from Entwicklung 'development', is any different from a Bildungsroman, then the difference is so slight as to be not worth worrying about. Some sources call them synonymous; some say just "the differences are slight," and some give them different but effectively synonymous definitions, e.g. "a novel of development" versus "a novel showing the development of its protagonist." I'd say that you probably don't have to worry about this one, unless you're a German-lit expert, in which case you probably know what it means anyway.

The other variant worth consideration is the Künstlerroman, or 'artist novel', which is a Bildungsroman in which the protagonist becomes an artist, musician, or poet. Important examples are Joyce's Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man and Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel.

Entwicklungsroman has some slight fame for being the longest word in English (it is found in a few English dictionaries) having each of the five vowels once and only once.