The Bildungsroman in the 20th Century

Course Description

The Bildungsroman genre came to be known as the “coming of age” novel, generally written in the first person, often indistinct from confessional writing. This discussion-based literature course will look at four novels, beginning with James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, considering the protagonist’s journey towards becoming an artist. Following this, we will explore Carson McCullers’ novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, as her character struggles with issues like racism, poverty, and faith. In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, the narrator confronts her inner demons while attempting to define herself in a world that denigrates women. Finally, Ham on Rye, by underground writer Charles Bukowski, presents an alternately tragic and comic tale of growing up as the perennial outsider.

We will ask the following questions: What features do these works share and how do they differ? Is this genre of writing necessarily confessional? Do we read this type of writing differently than we would other literature, especially considering the reliability of the narrative voice?

Books to purchase: 

Joyce, James. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 

McCullers, Carson. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar 

Bukowski, Charles. Ham on Rye

Course Details