Formative Fictions: Nationalism, Cosmopolitanism, and the Bildungsroman by Tobia

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Boes argues that the dual status of the Bildungsroman renders this novelistic form an elegant way to negotiate the diverging critical discourses surrounding national and world literature.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

The Bildungsroman, or "novel of formation," has long led a paradoxical life within literary studies, having been construed both as a peculiarly German genre, a marker of that country's cultural difference from Western Europe, and as a universal expression of modernity. In Formative Fictions, Tobias Boes argues that the dual status of the Bildungsroman renders this novelistic form an elegant way to negotiate the diverging critical discourses surrounding national and world literature. Since the late eighteenth century, authors have employed the story of a protagonist's journey into maturity as a powerful tool with which to facilitate the creation of national communities among their readers. Such attempts always stumble over what Boes calls "cosmopolitan remainders," identity claims that resist nationalism's aim for closure in the normative regime of the nation-state. These cosmopolitan remainders are responsible for the curiously hesitant endings of so many novels of formation.In Formative Fictions, Boes presents readings of a number of novels-Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Karl Leberecht Immermann's The Epigones, Gustav Freytag's Debit and Credit, Alfred Doblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz, and Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus among them-that have always been felt to be particularly "German" and compares them with novels by such authors as George Eliot and James Joyce to show that what seem to be markers of national particularity can productively be read as topics of world literature.

Author Biography

Tobias Boes is Assistant Professor of German at the University of Notre Dame.

Table of Contents

Introduction Part I. Methodological Background 1. The Limits of National Form: Normativity and Performativity in Bildungsroman Criticism 2. Apprenticeship of the Novel: Goethe and the Invention of History Part II. Comparative Studies 3. Epigonal Consciousness: Stendhal, Immermann, and the "Problem of Generations" around 1830 4. Long-Distance Fantasies: Freytag, Eliot, and National Literature in the Age of Empire 5. Urban Vernaculars: Joyce, Doblin, and the "Individuating Rhythm" of Modernity Conclusion: Apocalipsis cum figuris: Thomas Mann and the Bildungsroman at the Ends of Time Bibliography Index

Review

"By reinserting less well-studied German examples into a history of the genre, Boes resists turning plots into theoretical self-descriptions. His approach allows the genre the freedom of its individual solutions... Boes remains true to the incipient insight that he has unearthed in Morgenstern."-Nicholas Dames, Modern Language Quarterly (September 2014) "Formative Fictions should appeal to multiple academic audiences. Anyone interested in the genre of the Bildungsroman will want to read Tobias Boes's work. What elevates the book above individual genre studies, however, is its effort to redefine comparative literature as world literature. Boes does this in a very careful way, steering between the Scylla of nationalist essentialism and the Charybdis of an empty universalism. That is, he recognizes the importance of national and linguistic difference, but demonstrates how the national is caught between the global and the local, how the cosmopolitan can coincide with the national, and how the novels express the 'synchronicity of the non-synchronous' in the societies from which they emerged."-Todd Kontje, University of California, San Diego "In Formative Fictions Tobias Boes seeks a new perspective on the perennial topic of the Bildungsroman, to relieve it of its traditional understanding as a national form, sometimes regarded as peculiar to Germany. Boes places the form in a context of increasing historical awareness and finds cosmopolitan sensibilities between nationalism and individualism that, drawing on Homi Bhabha's 'vernacular cosmopolitanism,' allow comparisons of texts across literatures."-Jeffrey L. Sammons, Leavenworth Professor Emeritus of German Language and Literature, Yale University

Long Description

The Bildungsroman , or "novel of formation," has long led a paradoxical life within literary studies, having been construed both as a peculiarly German genre, a marker of that country's cultural difference from Western Europe, and as a universal expression of modernity. In Formative Fictions , Tobias Boes argues that the dual status of the Bildungsroman renders this novelistic form an elegant way to negotiate the diverging critical discourses surrounding national and world literature. Since the late eighteenth century, authors have employed the story of a protagonist's journey into maturity as a powerful tool with which to facilitate the creation of national communities among their readers. Such attempts always stumble over what Boes calls "cosmopolitan remainders," identity claims that resist nationalism's aim for closure in the normative regime of the nation-state. These cosmopolitan remainders are responsible for the curiously hesitant endings of so many novels of formation. In Formative Fictions , Boes presents readings of a number of novels--Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship , Karl Leberecht Immermann's The Epigones , Gustav Freytag's Debit and Credit , Alfred D

Review Quote

"In Formative Fictions Tobias Boes seeks a new perspective on the perennial topic of the Bildungsroman, to relieve it of its traditional understanding as a national form, sometimes regarded as peculiar to Germany. Boes places the form in a context of increasing historical awareness and finds cosmopolitan sensibilities between nationalism and individualism that, drawing on Homi Bhabha's 'vernacular cosmopolitanism,' allow comparisons of texts across literatures."-Jeffrey L. Sammons, Leavenworth Professor Emeritus of German Language and Literature, Yale University

Details ISBN0801478030 Author Tobias Boes Publisher Cornell University Press Series Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought ISBN-10 0801478030 ISBN-13 9780801478031 Format Paperback Place of Publication Ithaca Country of Publication United States DEWEY 809.39354 Short Title FORMATIVE FICTIONS Language English Media Book Year 2012 Birth 1976 Pages 214 Illustrations black & white illustrations Publication Date 2012-09-30 Subtitle Nationalism, Cosmopolitanism, and the Bildungsroman Translated from English Imprint Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library UK Release Date 2012-09-30 AU Release Date 2012-09-30 NZ Release Date 2012-09-30 US Release Date 2012-09-30 Alternative 9780801451775 Audience Tertiary & Higher Education We've got this

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