Ingenre studies,acoming-of-age storyis agenreofliterature,theatre,film,andvideo gamethat focuses on the growth of aprotagonistfrom childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age".Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action and are often set in the past. The subjects of coming-of-age stories are typically teenagers.[1]TheBildungsromanis a specific subgenre of coming-of-age story.

Illustration forLittle Women,a classic 1869 coming-of-age novel featuring four female protagonists

The plot points of coming-of-age stories are usually emotional changes within the character(s) in question.[2]

Bildungsroman

edit

Inliterary criticism,coming-of-age novels andBildungsromanare sometimes interchangeable, but the former is usually a wider genre. TheBildungsroman(from the German wordsBildung,"education", alternatively "forming" andRoman,"novel" ) is further characterized by a number of formal, topical, and thematic features.[3]It focuses on the psychological and moral growth of theprotagonistfrom childhood to adulthood (coming of age),[4]in which character change is important.[5][6][7]

The genre evolved from folk tales of young children exploring the world to find their fortune.[8]Although theBildungsromanarose in Germany, it has had extensive influence first in Europe and later throughout the world.Thomas Carlylehad translatedGoethe'sWilhelm Meisternovels into English, and after their publication in 1824/1825, many British authors wrote novels inspired by it.[9][10]

Many variations of theBildungsromanexist, such as theKünstlerroman( "artist novel" ), which focuses on the self-growth of an artist.[11]

Teen films

edit

In film, coming-of-age is a genre of teen films. Coming-of-age films focus on the psychological and moral growth or transition of aprotagonistfromyouthto adulthood. A variant in the 2020s is the "delayed-coming-of-age film, a kind of story that acknowledges the deferred nature of 21st-century adulthood", in which young adults may still be exploring short-term relationships, living situations, and jobs even into their late 20s and early 30s.[12]

Personal growth and change is an important characteristic of the genre, which relies on dialogue and emotional responses, rather than action. The story is sometimes told in the form of a flashback.[1]Historically, coming-of-age films usually centred on young boys, although coming-of-age films focusing on girls have become more common in the early 21st century, such asThe Poker House(2008),Winter's Bone(2010),Hick(2011),Girlhood(2014),Mustang(2015),Inside Out(2015),The Diary of a Teenage Girl(2015),Mistress America(2015),The Edge of Seventeen(2016),Lady Bird(2017),Sweet 20(2017),Aftersun(2022),Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.(2023),Dìdi(2024) andInside Out 2(2024).[13]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^abBenyahia, Sarah Casey; Gaffney, Freddie; White, John (2006).As Film Studies: The Essential Introduction.Essentials Series. Taylor & Francis.ISBN0-415-39311-6.Retrieved5 May2011.
  2. ^Romero, Travis (2020)."Coming Of Age".Ginglu.Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  3. ^Iversen, Annikin Teines (2010).Change and Continuity; The Bildungsroman in English(Thesis). Tromsø: Arctic University of Norway, Munin open research archive.hdl:10037/2486.RetrievedMay 21,2024.
  4. ^Lynch, Jack (1999)."Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms".Guide to Literary Terms.Rutgers University. Archived fromthe originalon 5 August 2011.Retrieved24 May2020.
  5. ^Bakhtin, Mikhail (1996). "The Bildungsroman and its Significance in the History of Realism". In Emerson, Caryl; Holquist, Michael (eds.).Speech Genres and Other Late Essays.Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. p. 21.ISBN978-0-292-79256-2.OCLC956882417.
  6. ^Jeffers, Thomas L. (2005).Apprenticeships: The Bildungsroman from Goethe to Santayana.New York: Palgrave. p. 2.ISBN1-4039-6607-9.
  7. ^"Bildungsroman: German literary genre".Encyclopædia Britannica.22 April 2013.
  8. ^Cicchelli, Vincenzo (2010)."Les legs du voyage de formation à la Bildung cosmopolite".Le Télémaque(in French).38(2):57–70.doi:10.3917/tele.038.0057.ISSN1263-588X.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-11-15.Retrieved2022-06-20.Franco Moretti et John Neubauer, historiens de la littérature, ont tous deux insisté sur le rôle fondamental qu'a joué le roman, depuis la fin du XVIIIe siècle jusqu'à la Première Guerre mondiale, dans la construction des âges de la vie, de l'adolescence et la jeunesse. Si, avant cette période, les jeunes sont les laissés-pour-compte de la littérature romanesque, cette entrée tardive est compensée par la place centrale qu'ils occupent dans le roman de formation. Vers la fin du XIXe siècle, quand ce genre entre en crise, les jeunes sont remplacés par les adolescents, nouveaux protagonistes des œuvres de fiction. Après les écrits de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, le roman de formation, ou Bildungsroman, dont l'apogée se situe entre Les années d'apprentissage de Wilhelm Meister de Goethe (1795–1796) et l'Éducation sentimentale de Flaubert (1869), invente la figure littéraire du jeune homme voyageur. C'est à partir donc de cette période qu'il faudra retrouver certains traits des voyages fictionnels, que j'appelle matrices , qui hantent encore notre imaginaire, et que l'on retrouve dans les séjours Erasmus contemporains
  9. ^Buckley, J. H. (1974),Season of Youth: The Bildungsroman from Dickens to Golding,Harvard Univ Press,ISBN978-0-67479-640-9.
  10. ^Ellis, L. (1999),Appearing to Diminish: Female Development and the British Bildungsroman, 1750–1850,London: Bucknell University Press,ISBN978-0-83875-411-5
  11. ^Werlock, James P. (2010).The Facts on File companion to the American short story.Vol. 2. Infobase. p. 387.ISBN9781438127439.
  12. ^Murthi, Vikram (10 March 2022)."The Wonder and Horror of Delayed Adulthood".The Nation.Archivedfrom the original on 10 December 2022.Retrieved10 March2022.
  13. ^Erbland, Kate (December 5, 2017)."7 Female-Centric Coming-of-Age Movies to Watch If You Loved 'Lady Bird'".IndieWire.Archivedfrom the original on November 15, 2022.RetrievedJune 19,2022.