Formative Fictions -- Contents -- A Note on Translations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I: Methodological Background -- 1. The Limits of National Form: Normativity and Performativity in Bildungsroman Criticism -- 2. Apprenticeship of the Novel: Goethe and the Invention of History -- Part II: Comparative Studies -- 3. Epigonal Consciousness: Stendhal, Immermann, and the "Problem of Generations" around 1830 -- 4. Long-Distance Fantasies: Freytag, Eliot, and National Literature in the Age of Empire -- 5. Urban Vernaculars: Joyce, Döblin, and the "Individuating Rhythm" of Modernity -- Conclusion: Apocalipsis cum fi guris : Thomas Mann and the Bildungsroman at the Ends of Time -- Bibliography -- Index.