Bildungsromans. (Genre/Form Term)

Britannica online, Dec. 18, 2012 (bildungsroman: class of novel that deals with the maturation process, with how and why the protagonist develops as he does, both morally and psychologically. The German word Bildungsroman means "novel of education" or "novel of formation"; a common variation of the bildungsroman is the Künstlerroman, a novel dealing with the formative years of an artist. Such other variations as the Erziehungsroman ("novel of upbringing") and the Entwicklungsroman ("novel of [character] development") differ only slightly from the bildungsroman, and these terms are sometimes used interchangeably)

GSAFD, 2000 (Bildungsromans: Use for novels in which the theme is the development of a character from youth to adulthood. An example is Charles Dickens' Great expectations. UF Apprenticeship novels, Bildungsromane, Coming of age stories.)

Kennedy, X.J. The Longman dictionary of literary terms, c2006 (Bildungsroman: German for "novel of growth and development," the Bildungsroman is a subgenre that originated in eighteenth-century German fiction and spread across Europe and the United States. Sometimes called an apprenticeship novel, it depicts a youth who struggles toward maturity, forming a worldview or philosophy of life and leaving behind the concerns of adolescence; Coming-of-age story, see Initiation story; Initiation story: Also called Coming-of-age story, an initiation story is a narrative in which the main character, usually a child or adolescent, undergoes an important experience or rite of passage--often a difficult or disillusioning one--that prepares him or her for adulthood.)

LCSH, Oct. 21, 2014 (Bildungsromans. UF Apprenticeship novels; Bildungsromane; Coming-of-age novels; Entwicklungsromane; Erziehungsromane. BT Fiction)

Fiction depicting the development of a character from youth to adulthood.