Revolutionary Subjects:A Radical History of the Bildungsroman

The literary history of radical selfhood across borders and centuries.

What do novels reveal about how radical selves are made?

Kohlmann traces two centuries of literature shaped by emancipatory and internationalist commitments, charting the evolution of “red” world writing and the aesthetic forms that carry its politics. At the center is the radical Bildungsroman, which rewrites dominant ideas of personal development. From Sartre’s Roads to Freedom to Ding Ling’s The Sun Shines Over Sanggan River, these works imagine the self through collective struggle and global solidarity.