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Definition
Reifungsroman and Vollendungsroman are two terms that have been coined to define contemporary novels which focus on later stages of the life course, highlighting the central character’s development beyond youth. Both terms are closely related to the broader concept of the Bildungsroman as the genre of the novel that is primarily concerned with “growing up” or “coming of age.” From the perspective of age and feminist studies, Barbara Frey Waxman coined the term Reifungsroman to refer to novels which focus on development in later life. She defines this sub-genre of the Bildungsroman as a new form of twentieth-century fiction “that rejects negative cultural stereotypes of the old woman and aging, seeking to change the society that created these stereotypes” (Waxman 1990, p. 2). Whereas Waxman’s definition of the Reifungsroman encompasses the (female) aging process from midlife to old age, Constance Rooke has coined the term Vollendungsroman...
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References
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Hartung, H. (2019). Reifungsroman/Vollendungsroman/Bildungsroman. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_255-1
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