coming-of-age story
Youth-to-adulthood tale
A coming-of-age story is a narrative following a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood, typically through formative experiences that bring self-discovery, disillusionment, or maturity.
The German term *Bildungsroman* describes the literary form.
These stories often center on first love, loss of innocence, or confronting adult realities: The Catcher in the Rye is the quintessential coming-of-age story.
- adolescenceTeenage developmental stage
- youthState of being immature
- maturityFull growth achieved
- bildungsromanFiction of psychological maturation
- teenagerPerson aged thirteen-nineteen
high school · innocence · first love · rebellion · identity · finding yourself · growing pains · young adult · rite of passage · loss · discovery · lost innocence · awkward · teenage angst · puberty · graduation · heartbreak · mentor
- talestale, tall tales, yarns, folk tale, fairy tale
- prosenovel, novels, novellas, essay, novella
- literary genresfiction, poetry collections, realism, family drama, classic novels
- romance fictionromance novel, romance novels, contemporary romance, romantic fiction, romantic comedy
- fictionfiction, novel, novels, novella, novellas
- memoirsmemoir, memoirs, autobiography, autobiographies, personal histories