Publications Index
Dr. Elaine Martin Home Page

The German Bildungsroman: History of a National Genre, by Todd Kontje. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1993, 160pp. $49.95

Although an evolving description of the genre and readings of individual works qua Bildungsromane are elements germane to the author's investigation, Kontje's book focusses more narrowly on the history of the critical discourse(s) surrounding the Bildungsroman over a 200-year period; in the words of the author himself, he traces "the history of the Bildungsroman as it has been defined by successive generations of critics. The focus of the analysis shifts from the literary texts themselves to the critical discourse about those texts" (ix).

Following a brief discussion of 18th-century "Theories of Bildung," Kontje proceeds chronologically, dividing his topic into historical periods: 1774-1848, 1848-1945, the 1960s, the 1970s, and "New Directions." In some regards one might consider the discussion of the Bildungsroman a spiral rather than a linear progression because a number of the topics reemerge cyclically either verbatim or in slightly altered versions. Taken as a whole, the rhetoric of the Bildungsroman has remained surprisingly static. Specific issues Kontje highlights are: the central role of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister in almost all studies; the alternating emphases between inwardness and outwardness, self and world; the question of ultimate social integration of the hero (and at what cost); the Bildungsroman as a specifically German genre; the "nationalist" move from considering the Bildungsroman an individual's life trajectory to viewing the German nation as "the hero of its own Bildungsroman" (31); the possible political role of literature (e.g. "the organic development of the hero toward maturation and social integration reproduces in miniature the movement of German literature toward its maturity, and this literature, in turn, is to inspire the unification of the German nation" (29); discussions of terminology (e.g. Entwicklungsroman, Erziehungsroman, Bildungsgeschichte, Individualroman, Biographie-Erz„hlung, Identit„tsroman); the role of the narrator; and the question of whether there are women's Bildungsromane.

Kontje's methodological approach to his vast and complex material is both clear and useful: he first outlines each author's thoughts on the Bildungsroman, then explains how the contribution is unique and either expands or alters the existing tradition, and finally evaluates the theory by pointing out any shortcomings, repetitions of predecessors, or blindspots. He includes major theorists' ideas on the Bildungsroman (Hegel, Luk cs, Bakhtin, Mann) but also a compendium of lesser known critics. The resultant flurry of names--approximately 100 names in 112 pages of text--may overwhelm readers not already familiar with scholarship of the German novel and/or the 18th century. Many pages offer as many as three names of critics, each with a paragraph highlighting her/his major ideas. Kontje explains in the preface that his book is "primarily for scholars of the German novel, but also for those who introduce the term into the study of other national literatures" (ix). He does make the text user friendly for non-Germans by providing English translations for all German passages in the body of the text itself, and he also provides useful chronologies both of German Bildungsromane themselves and of critical scholarship in the appendices. His fluid style and obvious erudite command of this vast field are marred slightly by a number of inexplicable typographical and other errors (e.g. "the time for the Bildungsroman has past" 30, "theirs was a world were the rift between..." 34, "Herein lies to key to the..." 53, "A Bildungsroman need not fulfill the expectations it arises..." 74).

Kontje's survey has several advantages over its predecessors (Selbmann, Mahoney, Jacobs/Krause, Hardin, Mayer): his book includes the most recent examples of criticism in both English and German; he considers several comparative literature perspectives that widen the discussion beyond the German framework; he includes poststructuralist, psychoanalytic, sociological and feminist readings; and his text, free of jargon, is easily accessible to a wide audience. Although Kontje refers to the European novel and the "export of the Bildungsroman to foreign cultures" (111), he does not discuss its similar "exportation" to other disciplines. I think for example of anthropologist James Peacock's focus on the travel aspect of the Bildungsroman and the unique parallel he draws between this journey and an anthropologist's fieldwork (54-5 The Anthropological Lens; Harsh Light, Soft Focus). It would have been interesting and instructive if Kontje had chosen to comment on the ways in which disciplines such as anthropology, history, or sociology have appropriated the term and applied it in new ways.

Top of Page | Publications Index | Dr. Elaine Martin Home Page

Dr. Elaine Martin, emartin@woodsquad.as.ua.edu