From the Past, the Present

The Contemporary French Bildungsroman as a Teaching Tool

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to discuss the conceptual frame of Bildungsroman in France: usually considered as having risen at the end of 18^th century and faded at the end of 19^th, concerning a male hero searching his place in the world, this kind of novel has been put in relation with a specific lapse of time and kind of society. We wish to propose a new approach to the French roman d’apprentissage, starting from contemporary texts and moving back to 17^th century. The model of Bildungsroman can be reframed starting from its characteristics, showing the links between the contemporary coming-of-age novel and the novel of Ancien Régime: this will also allow the didactic use of nowadays narrative to approach the more complex narrative of the past centuries.