Studia Filologiczne UJK

Summary

Due to significant events of the 20th century, dystopia (which derives from utopia) developed into the main form of utopian literature in the mid-twentieth century and it has been developing until today. The authors of dystopia present a society controlled by the totalitarian government to criticize current issues and to help the reader avoid a similar future. One of the subgenres of dystopian literature, young adult dystopia, follows teenage, mostly female protagonists who rebel against the strict rules. This dystopian subgenre, where a young, rebellious woman leads the narrative, may be perceived as a modern equivalent for the 19th-century novel of formation – Bildungsroman.
The aim of this paper is to evidence that the key features of the German Bildungsroman genre can be found in female young adult dystopia, hence the female young adult dystopias can be considered as contemporary versions of Bildungsroman literature.