Bildungsroman

As several critics have noted, Body and Soul is a bildungsroman, a novel of formation. According to M. H. Abrams' A Glossary of Literary Terms, the subject of a bildungsroman "is the development of the protagonist's mind and character as he passes from childhood through varied experiences - and usually through a spiritual crisis - into maturity and the recognition of his identity and role in the world. ... An important subtype of the Bildungsroman is the Kunstlerroman ("artist-novel"), which represents the development of a novelist or other artist into the stage of maturity in which he recognizes his artistic destiny and achieves mastery of his artistic craft."

The subject of Body and Soul is the formation of Claude Rawlings as he passes from a six-year-old child through twenty years of varied experiences, including the crisis of the death of his teacher and father-figure, Aaron Weisfeld. Revived from his...