Aspirations of Jean Servien

The Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, is a common style of literary novel. It generally begins with the protagonist as a child or teenager, and follows them through the critical portion of their life where they intellectually and emotionally mature and develop. Typically, as in Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, the protagonist is introduced to a variety of characters each embodying a specific way of life or method of thought. Such novels often attempt to encapsulate the over-arching symbol of entering adulthood as experienced by a particular nation or time - a good example of this is Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, or Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth. Anatole France's The Aspirations of Jean Servien follows the Bildungsroman style to completeness, varying, however, one important fact - Jean never seems to learn much of anything, and his incursions into new social spheres and economic stations seem always to end abruptly, and negatively, and usually not by his own hand. The Aspirations of Jean Servien is, then, a satire on the bildungsroman.