ENGL 7670 Studies in Fiction

20th Century Bildungsroman
1:15–5:15 W
Jonathan Bolton

This course proposes to examine some significant examples of the bildungsroman, or novel of formation, in the twentieth century. The bildungsroman originated in 18th century Germany when, as a number of theorists believe, the rise of the middle class led to varied expectations and greater mobility. Hence, authors (Goethe, et al) developed narratives dramatizing the newfound choices and freedoms related to finding one’s way in the world. The heroes of such novels prior to the 20th century, typically, discover a vocation, get married, assimilate into society, and live happily ever after. In the 20th century, the genre gets more complicated. In this course, we’ll examine some modern and post-modern bildungsromane and theorize about ways of pursuing scholarship in this field. Lacanian psychoanalysis seems to prevail, but there are perhaps neglected opportunities in this field for cultural studies, cognitive development theory (Piaget vs. Zygotsky or Roni Natov’s Poetics of Childhood), feminist, queer theory and the “coming out” narrative, and new historicist approaches.

Texts:

Readings will most likely include: Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Virginia Woolf’s The Voyage Out, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise, Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Julian Barnes’s Metroland, Elizabeth Bowen’s Death of the Heart, Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans. Sarah Hall’s The Electric Michelangelo.

Requirements:

Requirements: conference length essay (8-10 pgs), seminar paper (20 pgs), presentation(s).