bildungsroman

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

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Britannica's Book Bingo. Take our reading challenge! Books range form greatest, banned, and counterculture.

Britannica’s Book Bingo

Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

poem. A poet in a Heian period kimono writes Japanese poetry during the Kamo Kyokusui No En Ancient Festival at Jonan-gu shrine on April 29, 2013 in Kyoto, Japan. Festival of Kyokusui-no Utage orignated in 1,182, party Heian era (794-1192).

World Poetry Day

Discover

Two chicks near an egg with a white background (poultry, chick, chickens, birds).

What Do Eggs Have to Do with Easter?

Small, white rat (genus Rattus) on a glass table. (rodent, laboratory, experiment)

Cruel and Unusual Punishments: 15 Types of Torture

Groups of depositors in front of the closed American Union Bank, New York City. April 26, 1932. Great Depression run on bank crowd

Causes of the Great Depression

Lusitania sinking, illustration from The War of the Nations (New York), December 31, 1919. World War I, WWI. This image is one of three on the page. (See source file for the other two.)

7 of the World’s Deadliest Shipwrecks

Battle of the Alamo from "Texas: An Epitome of Texas History from the Filibustering and Revolutionary Eras to the Independence of the Republic, 1897. Texas Revolution, Texas revolt, Texas independence, Texas history.

6 Wars of Independence

King Cobra snake in Malaysia. (reptile)

9 of the World’s Deadliest Snakes

Hemp (Cannabis sativa).

9 Mind-Altering Plants

bildungsroman: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	Entwicklungsroman • Erziehungsroman

Topics

Künstlerroman apprenticeship novel Abenteuerroman novel graphic novel picaresque novel Gothic novel epistolary novel psychological novel New Novel sentimental novel historical novel social problem novel roman à clef

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

novel: The novel of manners

Key People

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

German author

Gottfried Keller, drawing by R. Leemann, 1842; in the Zentralbibliothek, Zürich

Gottfried Keller

Swiss author

Christoph Martin Wieland.

Christoph Martin Wieland

German poet

Quiz

Young woman with glasses reading a book, student

Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz