Bildungsroman and Doppelgänger

The New York Times Sunday crossword, 1/4/15

The first time I encountered the word bildungsroman, I said, "What the heck is that?" and looked it up. The second time I saw it, I said, "Wait, I looked that up before, but what is it again?" So I looked it up again. The third time, I thought for a moment and then remembered what it meant. And then finally I got to the point where I can be doing the crossword puzzle and pull bildungsroman out of my butt. Woo hoo! (Since some of my students read this blog, I figured I shouldn't use the word ass.)

Bildungsroman, which is the term for a coming-of-age story that follows the main character from childhood to young adulthood, builds into my taste in vocabulary very nicely since I'm already attached to the word doppelgänger. I was very excited when a couple of years ago I saw a T-shirt at Uniqlo that had the word doppelgänger (which is a look-alike or double); I didn't care that the overall picture said "Art of the Shadow: Doppelganger" and that it had some anime figures doing what looks like martial arts. When was I ever again going to find a shirt that said doppelgänger? Does this mean there may be a bildungsroman shirt out there somewhere?

I've worn my doppelgänger to near ruin.

Bildungsroman and doppelgänger. They make a perfect duo, don't they? This couple should join elite pairs like Sturm und Drang, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Bang & Olufsen. I'll let you look up these last sets yourself. One never knows what clues the next crossword puzzle may hold.