By Marcus Coates,
@homeinRiyadh, 2nd September 2021, blog 21
Unsplash: Hans Reniers
What makes a bildungsroman a bildungsroman?
As my main area of interest in novel writing is the ‘coming of age tale’, I thought I’d blog this week on the origins of this particular genre, when it was known as the bildungsroman.
J. A. Cuddon, in Literary Terms and Theory, describes a bildungsroman as a term widely used by German critics to describe a novel that maps out the youthful development of an adolescent and the process of how maturity is achieved through the various ups and downs of life (1999: 81).
A bildungsroman is often recognisable as containing the following elements:
A youth of a sensitive nature experiencing a significant event that makes them question the world they live in, such as personal loss or witnessing a tragedy.
After having had their world shaken up, the protagonist feels compelled to undertake a journey to fill the vacuum in their life or seek answers to the questions they now can’t escape.
During the protagonist’s journey of discovery, they meet new people — often of a different social class or holding very different world views from those of the protagonist — or they are confronted by challenging experiences. In each case, the story’s hero needs to question their ideas, values, and actions, allowing for growth: spiritual, philosophical, moral, sexual, cultural or otherwise.
After completing the journey, the central character reaches a self-actualised state and is often – though not always – integrated back into society and finds their place in the world.
Prevalent Themes of a Bildungsroman
Youth & freedom,
Journey & discovery,
Growth & maturity,
Choice & compromise,
The establishment & social acceptance
Refusal & self-actualisation
(In modern psychology, this youthful journey to self-actualisation comfortably maps to Maslow’s Triangle of Hierarchical Needs, as in figure 1 below).
Figure 1: Maslow’s Triangle of Hierarchical Needs
18th Century Bildungsroman Narrative in Historical Context
According to Cuddon, the earliest example of a bildungsroman is often cited as Wieland’s Agathon (1765 – 6), whilst the most often referred to and imitated is Goethe’s Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers (1774) and Wilhelm Meisters Apprenticeship (1795 – 6); the latter becoming well known in Britain through Thomas Carlye’s translation in 1824 (Cuddon, 1999: 82).
Using the earliest cited example of the genre, Wieland’s Agathon, and keeping in mind the prevalent themes found within a bildungsroman, I have mapped out the critical elements of the novel, such as central character, setting, plot, main evens and structure in order to ascertain why Wieland’s Agathon is considered a bildungsroman.
Wieland’s Agathon (1765 – 6);
Central Character:
Agathon, an orphaned boy of good looks, raised at a temple in Delphy and tutored in Platonism.
Setting:
Ancient Greece during Plato’s time, with autobiographical elements evident.
Plot Summary:
As Agathon comes of age, he platonically falls in love with a pious young woman, Psyche, but is compelled to leave her and the temple when an older Priestess repeatedly tries to seduce him. On his travels, he meets his birth father, who endows Agathon with a large fortune. With his new status, Agathon moves to Athens and enters into politics but is banished when he refuses to become part of the corrupt political system.
Whilst travelling again, he comes across a cult of female Dionysian worshippers. Fascinated by the spectacle, he decides to stay hidden and watch but is captured by pirates and enslaved. He is sold to a libertine, Hippias, who wants to mentor Agathon in the ways of Epicureanism. As Agathon rejects Epicureanism, Hippias enlists the help of a noble courtesan, Daphne, to seduce the young man. Daphne chips away at Agathon’s idealism to create in him a worldly love.
Although Daphne adopts some of Agathon’s Platonic ideals, Hippias tells Agathon that he has become worldly. In anger, Agathon leaves for the court of Dionysus the Tyrant and tries his hand at politics once more but is dismissed by the mob. He departs for Tarentum, where he finally meets his ideal leader. He meets up with Psyche and discovers she is his sister and Daphne, who won’t take Agathon back as she has converted to asceticism.
Chart of the Main Events:
Chart 1: Emotional Scale
Main Events:
1. Agathon tutored at the temple in the ways of Platonism, meeting Psyche.
2. Compelled to leave due to the advances of the older Priestess and experiencing episodic encounters, such as meeting his father, dabbling in politics and witnessing the Dionysian cult in flagrante delicto.
3. Enslaved and sold to Hippias.
4. Seduced by the courtesan Daphne and adopting Epicurean tastes.
5. Attempting his hand at politics at the court of Dionysus and being dismissed by the mob.
6. Meeting his ideal leader in Tarentum and encountering Pysche and Daphne once more.
Analysis:
What places Agathon in the realms of the bildungsroman is that the central protagonist doesn’t just have episodic and exceptional encounters — as in the picaresque novels that predated it; each experiential meeting provides a moment of psychological growth for the hero. Therefore, the story reflects theology, philosophy, and morals as Agathon attempts to self-actualise and find his place in society. In the end, the central character has undertaken a journey of sexual and moral education and finally represents the self-actualised exemplary embodiment of Platonism and Epicureanism philosophies.
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