FUCK YOU!

9/17/2008 10:17:27 PM

first

9/17/2008 11:21:43 PM

OOooOOOooOooo!!!

*the former English major jumps up and down*

ME me me meme, call on me...!!!

9/17/2008 11:29:15 PM

^ Acknowledged.

9/17/2008 11:38:03 PM

A bildungsroman is a 'coming of age' novel.

It comes from the German. A lot of great literature can fall into the category of bildungsroman like David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Portrait of an Artist, and even Jane Eyre. 19th century lit is ALL ABOUT the bildungsroman.

19th century lit, being like MY GENRE. and Jane Eyre, just consider me your local expert.

[Edited on September 17, 2008 at 11:48 PM. Reason : ]

9/17/2008 11:47:43 PM

Is Harry Potter a bildungsroman?

9/17/2008 11:57:35 PM

There are those who consider the Harry Potter series to be a modern day bildungsroman.

9/17/2008 11:58:56 PM

What about you?

9/17/2008 11:59:40 PM

i know a namorsgnudlib

9/18/2008 12:01:35 AM

Nacirema

9/18/2008 12:02:02 AM

I have not read the Harry Potter series, so I cannot give you an educated response. But if you were trying to isolate a single book from the series, I would say No.

9/18/2008 12:04:08 AM

Excellently worded. I originally found the word bildungsroman when I was reading about the premise of Harry Potter on Wiki.

So bottombaby, is there anything that you could describe as the quintessential bildungsroman?

9/18/2008 12:18:24 AM

Catcher in the Rye.

9/18/2008 12:33:40 AM

[user]joe-schmoe[/user] wins.

9/18/2008 12:34:40 AM

It is exactly as previously stated: "a coming of age" novel. In the process of taking the protagonist from childhood into adulthood, and during the process learning moral truths and his or her right place in society; its purpose is to take the reader through this same moral education.

Huck Finn is an example that most are familiar with.

[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 12:38 AM. Reason : Catcher in the Rye is overrated.]

9/18/2008 12:38:17 AM

I actually never read Huck Finn.

9/18/2008 12:41:16 AM

^^ Huck Finn is entirely irrelevant to modern readers, if judged as having intimately identifiable characters or events. it's current value is purely as pseudo-historical American literature, not as bildungsroman.

sniff indignantly all you want about Catcher, but Salinger's novel has a timelessness that reaches across multiple generations, containing the same power of observation as it had when published 60 years ago.

Catcher is a quintessential coming of age novel, whereas Huck Finn is a curious-but-dated bit of early American political propaganda.






[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 1:50 AM. Reason : ]

9/18/2008 1:44:16 AM

i want to hug this thread.

9/18/2008 2:49:50 AM

crazy. i kinda feel like i wanna burn and desecrate it

[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 3:24 AM. Reason : and then learn a valuable lesson from it]

9/18/2008 3:23:36 AM

You are absolutely correct. Catcher in the Rye is a great example of American Literature that can be considered a bildungsroman that is relevant to modern readers. However, Huck Finn is also a bildungsroman. I chose it as an example over Catcher because most everyone reads it in high school unlike Catcher in the Rye.

And as my fellow English Ed people will tell you, that when you're taking examples of a genre from your students, you'll accept a lot of things. (Like Harry Potter or Ender's Game.)

On a side note: I was disappointed in Catcher in the Rye. I did not read it until taking Young Adult Literature in college. It had be so built up by that point, that the actual novel ended up being a let down.

9/18/2008 5:53:14 AM

Quote :

"Catcher is a quintessential coming of age novel, whereas Huck Finn is a curious-but-dated bit of early American political propaganda. "

The fact that you said quintessential just ruined all your credibility despite the fact that you're right

9/18/2008 7:43:28 AM

i fuckin' love Catcher, but i have to wonder if maybe it's a guy thing.

9/18/2008 7:54:49 AM

9th Grade Vocabulary FTW

Wasn't To Kill a Mockingbird one of these?

9/18/2008 10:59:06 AM

We gonna spend money!

9/18/2008 1:21:13 PM

Yo, da colliseum be Greek, rite?

Nah chill, dat bildungsroman!

9/18/2008 1:40:13 PM

"suck a dick with aids on the tip"

9/18/2008 1:41:22 PM

I enjoyed these types of books...

9/18/2008 4:45:55 PM

Quote :

"On a side note: I was disappointed in Catcher in the Rye. I did not read it until taking Young Adult Literature in college. It had be so built up by that point, that the actual novel ended up being a let down."

well, i loved it. but unlike you, i was in 10th grade, and read it on my own, not because it was assigned.

i will admit, i tried to read it again a few years ago, and did find the dialogue a bit superficial. not surprising, sinc a true bildungsroman will appeal to the teens/young adults, and not so much the "grown-ups"

i also think that Huck Finn is a "better" book, because -- as an adventure novel set in a specific historical era -- it has a broader cultural appeal, and has lasted 120+ years. It will probably still be read and enjoyed after 120 more years, when Catcher may finally succumb to irrelevance as a "bildungsroman" and not have anything else to recommend it.









(* and HEY, i only said quintessential because someone else said it first. i apologize, and admit my error. please don't have the Bailiff whack my peepee. *)




[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 8:59 PM. Reason : ]

9/18/2008 8:43:28 PM

^ That would appear to be me. And it is.

Quote :

"Spontaneous All American 6438 Posts user info edit post Excellently worded. I originally found the word bildungsroman when I was reading about the premise of Harry Potter on Wiki. So bottombaby, is there anything that you could describe as the quintessential bildungsroman?"

9/18/2008 8:52:09 PM