Coming-of-age story explained

In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from 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. The Bildungsroman is a specific subgenre of coming-of-age story.

The plot points of coming-of-age stories are usually emotional changes within the character(s) in question.[1]

Bildungsroman

See main article: Bildungsroman.

In literary criticism, coming-of-age novels and Bildungsroman are sometimes interchangeable, but the former is usually a wider genre. The Bildungsroman (from the German words Bildung, "education", alternatively "forming" and Roman, "novel") is further characterized by a number of formal, topical, and thematic features.[2] It focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age),[3] in which character change is important.[4] [5] [6]

The genre evolved from folk tales of young children exploring the world to find their fortune.[7] Although the Bildungsroman arose in Germany, it has had extensive influence first in Europe and later throughout the world. Thomas Carlyle had translated Goethe's Wilhelm Meister novels into English, and after their publication in 1824/1825, many British authors wrote novels inspired by it.[8] [9]

Many variations of the Bildungsroman exist, such as the Künstlerroman ("artist novel"), which focuses on the self-growth of an artist.[10]

Teen films

See main article: Teen film. 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 a protagonist from youth to 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.[11]

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.[12] 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 as The 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) and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023).[13]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Romero, Travis (2020). "Coming Of Age". Ginglu. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  2. Iversen . Annikin Teines . 2010 . Change and Continuity; The Bildungsroman in English . Tromsø . Arctic University of Norway, Munin open research archive . 10037/2486 . May 21, 2024.
  3. Web site: Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms . Lynch . Jack . 1999 . Guide to Literary Terms . Rutgers University . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110805212616/http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Terms/bildungsroman.html . 5 August 2011. 24 May 2020.
  4. Book: Bakhtin, Mikhail . Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. 978-0-292-79256-2. 956882417 . 1996 . The Bildungsroman and its Significance in the History of Realism . Austin, TX . University of Texas Press . Caryl . Emerson . Michael . Holquist . 21.
  5. Book: Jeffers, Thomas L. . Apprenticeships: The Bildungsroman from Goethe to Santayana . 2005 . Palgrave . New York . 1-4039-6607-9 . 2.
  6. Encyclopedia: Bildungsroman: German literary genre . 22 April 2013 . Encyclopædia Britannica.
  7. Cicchelli . Vincenzo . 2010 . Les legs du voyage de formation à la Bildung cosmopolite . Le Télémaque . fr . 38 . 2 . 57–70 . 10.3917/tele.038.0057 . 1263-588X . 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 . free . 2022-06-20 . 2022-11-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221115222049/https://www.cairn.info/revue-le-telemaque-2010-2-page-57.htm . live .
  8. Buckley, J. H. (1974), Season of Youth: The Bildungsroman from Dickens to Golding, Harvard Univ Press, .
  9. Ellis, L. (1999), Appearing to Diminish: Female Development and the British Bildungsroman, 1750–1850, London: Bucknell University Press,
  10. Book: Werlock, James P. . 2010 . The Facts on File companion to the American short story . 2 . 387. Infobase . 9781438127439 .
  11. Web site: The Wonder and Horror of Delayed Adulthood . Murthi . Vikram . 10 March 2022 . . 10 March 2022 . 10 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221210093455/https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/worst-person-joachim-trier/ . live .
  12. Book: Benyahia, Sarah Casey . Gaffney, Freddie . White, John . As Film Studies: The Essential Introduction . Essentials Series . 0-415-39311-6 . Taylor & Francis . 2006 . 5 May 2011 .
  13. Web site: December 5, 2017 . Erbland . Kate . 7 Female-Centric Coming-of-Age Movies to Watch If You Loved 'Lady Bird' . . June 19, 2022 . November 15, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221115222049/https://www.indiewire.com/2017/12/movies-to-watch-like-lady-bird-1201904105/ . live .

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