Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain as a Bildungsroman

Abstract: The Chronicles of Prydain are a children´s fantasy written by Lloyd Alexander and published for the first time between 1964 and 1968. According to Alexander, "the Prydain books all together might be an attempt to express what it takes to become a human - all the things that you have to go through and give up and learn and so forth to become a real human being". The cultivation of the mind is exactly what the Bildungsroman deals with. Alexander's series of novels have been referred to by critics as a Bildungsroman and as seen above, even the author himself states that the books are about growth. Michael Levy points out, however, that the term Bildungsroman has often been used as a very vague definition, sometimes only implying that the main character develops during the novel. I therefore think it would be interesting to investigate if the Chronicles of Prydain could also qualify to be called a Bildungsroman according to the more stringent criteria for a Bildungsroman applied by Jerome Buckley in his book Seasons of Youth.