The bildung of bildungsroman: Joyce, Winterson and Kincaid

This thesis demonstrates the constant formation of the common denominators of the genre of Bildungsroman over the years under the impact of the ongoing movements of modernism, postmodernism and postcolonialism. Moreover, this thesis underlines the innovative contributions of famous writers belong to those eras such as James Joyce, Jeanette Winterson and Jamaica Kincaid to the formation of the genre. To this end, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, and Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid have been chosen. Mainly, this thesis has focused on the structural and contextual formation the genre experiences in modern era with the steam-of-consciousness technique used by James Joyce in order to surface the intellectual/artistic development of the Künstlerroman hero. To this end, the formations seen in the common denominators of Bildungsroman under the impact of modernism will be presented. Secondarily, during the transition from modernism to post-modernism, how Winterson transgresses the structural and thematic boundaries of the genre will be demonstrated. With the emergence of postmodernism, how Winterson politicizes the genre by legitimizing the female Bildungsroman (Frauenromane), narrating the formation of a feminist, lesbian heroine will be examined. Finally, under the impact of post-colonialism, with her thematic and structural contributions to the formation of the genre, how Kincaid "decolonizes" the genre has been clarified. Moreover, this thesis answers the question of "can the subaltern sich bilden?" by holding Kincaid's novel Annie John as a measure.