or Bil·dungs·ro·man n.

A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological, and intellectual development of a usually youthful main character.

[German : Bildung, formation (from Middle High German bildunge, from Old High German bildunga, from bilidōn, to shape, from bilōdi, form, shape) + Roman, novel (from French, a story in the vernacular, novel; see roman).]

When in Rome do like the Romans. When reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, prepare for a bildungsroman:

"In addition to being a bildungsroman, of course, the Harry Potter books are also detective stories, quest narratives, moral fables, boarding school tales and action-adventure thrill rides, and Ms. Rowling uses her tireless gift for invention to thread these genres together..."

Link: Harry Potter Works His Magic Again in a Far Darker Tale

Posted July 18, 2005.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

Bildungsroman [bil‐duungz‐raw‐mahn] (plural ‐ane), a kind of novel that follows the development of the hero or heroine from childhood or adolescence into adulthood, through a troubled quest for identity. The term (‘formation‐novel’) comes from Germany, where Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795–6) set the pattern for later Bildungsromane. Many outstanding novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries follow this pattern of personal growth: Dickens's David Copperfield (1849–50), for example. When the novel describes the formation of a young artist, as in Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), it may also be called a Künstlerroman. For a fuller account, consult Franco Moretti, The Way of the World (1987).

For more information on bildungsroman, visit Britannica.com.

Bildungsroman, a novel in which the chief character, after a number of false starts or wrong choices, is led to follow the right path and to develop into a mature and well-balanced man. The form, which is more common in German literature than in English or French, was initiated by Wieland in his Agathon (1765-6) and notable later examples are Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-6), Tieck's Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen (1798), G. Keller's Der grüne Heinrich (1854), G. Freytag's Soll und Haben (1855), Stifter's Der Nachsommer (1857), and W. Raabe's Der Hungerpastor (1864). The Bildungsroman occurs more frequently in the 19th c. than in the 20th c., though H. Hesse's Peter Camenzind (1904) has been classified as a Bildungsroman, and Th. Mann's Königliche Hoheit (1909), Der Zauberberg (1924), and in particular his Joseph und seine Brüder (1933-42) might possibly be regarded as ironic instances of the form. Some critics differentiate between Bildungsroman, Erziehungsroman, and Entwicklungsroman, but these terms are barely distinguishable, and there is a perceptible tendency to adopt the last as the generic appellation in place of Bildungsroman. In so far as the element of self-realization is integrated in the author's presentation of society the Bildungsroman is synonymous with Zeitroman.

psychological novel dealing with the early moral development of the protagonist

IN BRIEF: n. - A type of novel that tells about the early development or spiritual education of the main character

Tutor's tip: This word was used in the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)