Season of Youth: The Bildungsroman from Dickens to Golding

by Jerome H. Buckley

Traces the development of the novel of youth from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960s through a study of major and minor novels representative of the genre

Hardcover

First published February 5, 1974

Reviews

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're reading a text about the bildungsroman outside of Germany, you can be sure that sooner or later, Buckley will be cited: He defined some typical aspects of the bildungsroman that would allow the discussion of the genre to be transplanted from German lit (where it was invented) to other literatures - thanks for that, Jerome! :-)

Still, it's a little funny to read Buckley's study in which he seems to mention the prototypical bildungsroman, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, only because he has to, and bitches about its author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe like there's no tomorrow: In his opinion, 'Wilhelm Meister', one of the most influential works ever written in German, is "a curious medley, without center or consistency; dull exposition and prosy asides jostle lively scenes from Bohemian life among the itinerant troupers; wit collides with sentiment, short dramatic ballads with long irrelevant interpolated tales and large tracts of cloudy occultism." Bam!

While I have to give it to Buckley that this is a very eloquent diss, and I also have to admit that 'Wilhelm Meister" is not one of my favorite books, to write something as arrogant and dismissive as this about a book of such impact and importance is so pathetic that it is almost comical.

Still, a useful book for people interested in the study of comparative literature or the British bildungsroman.