A "bildungsroman," which is German for a "coming of age novel," is a novel whose story concerns the development and growth of the main character. Typically, the novel will feature a main character who grows from adolescence to adulthood throughout the story. Classic examples of the genre are David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

The Romantic movement flourished throughout Europe during the early nineteenth century. It gained steam in artistic, literary, and philosophic circles by reacting against the Age of Enlightenment and many of its ideals, such as a focus on rationality and love of antiquity. Romanticism particularly valued emotion, nature, and the spontaneous artistic creation of a singular genius.

Born Samuel Clemens in Missouri in 1835, Mark Twain gained prominence in American literary circles after the Civil War for his novels about the frontier in America, notably the connected works The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In his later career, Twain moved to historical fiction with works like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and The Prince and the Pauper.

The Danish author Hans Christian Andersen first gained widespread fame for his collection Fairy Tales Told for Children, published in 1837. Among the tales included were "The Little Mermaid," "The Princess and the Pea," and "The Emperor's New Clothes," all of which were largely Andersen's creation.

Charles Dickens is one of the most well-known, well-respected, and prolific authors of the Victorian era in England. However, he had many contemporaries who wrote books nearly as popular as his own. Among these contemporaries is George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, who wrote the lengthy novel Middlemarch.

Herman Melville was an American author from the middle of the nineteenth century, who was well known for writing books about sailing and maritime themes. His most famous works include Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, Billy Budd, Typee, and Bartleby, The Scrivener. The Scarlet Letter, a work of historical fiction about Puritan-era Massachusetts, was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Edgar Allen Poe gained fame in the first half of the nineteenth century for using a variety of forms and styles in his literary works. He became famous for a particular blend of horror in his stories, which are all exemplified in the murder story "The Cask of Amontillado," the detective story "The Mystery of Marie Roget," and the supernatural horror story "The Fall of the House of Usher."

Victor Hugo was well known as a poet, essayist, and dramatist, as well as an author of fiction. Hugo's novels often covered a wide range of years, and dealt with grand political and social themes, which has made them well-known and well-loved. Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame have both been adapted to many different formats, from plays to films to animation.

Oscar Wilde was the literary sensation of 1890s European society, an Irishman who wrote in English and French. Wilde was most well known as a playwright, with his 1895 work The Importance of Being Earnest considered his masterpiece. Previously, though, Wilde wrote the 1890 bestselling novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and after spending time in prison on morals charges, wrote the long poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol in 1898.

Jane Austen was England's most popular and influential novelist in the early part of the nineteenth century. Her stories focused on romantic intrigue and also commented on social mores, women's status, and society. In a similar vein, but written years after Austen's death and more in the Gothic tradition, was Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel Jane Eyre.