CHARACTERS IN BILDUNGSROMAN: FROM PARADIGM TO PARODY (Junaci Bildungsromana: od paradigme do parodije)

Abstract

The paper discusses the Bildungsroman as a subgenre of the novel regarding main characters of two German Bildungsromans, Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister from the novel Wilhelm Meister’ Apprenticeship and Thomas Mann’s Hans Castorp from the novel The Magic Mountain. First are considered theoretical assumptions of the Bildungsroman in general and then its position in 20th century when modern writers abandon notion of the hero as a fuly developed, stable and coherent character and give space to reflections, recollections and stream of consciousness. The central part of the paper deals with analyses of main characters of two Bildungsromans, Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister, the main character of the novel which is considered as a paradigm of the subgenre, and Mann’s Hans Castorp, as a parodied character from the Bildungsroman of 20th century. Key words: Bildungsroman, Goethe, Wilhelm Meister’s Aprenticeship, Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain, parody.