As foregrounded by the title, the article traces back the definitions of German Bildungsroman, pleading for a narrower concept while writing a “history of youth.” The article also takes into consideration issues like “female Bildungsroman,” “international Bildungsroman,” “Colonial” and “Postcolonial Bildungsroman,” but it rejects them. The “German Bildungroman” is a genuine German narrative genre with roots in the history of the 18 th century. Unfortunately, the Bildungsroman cannot be transposed and applied on a one-to-one relationship to other national literatures.
