Rewriting the Bildungsroman: Urban Experience, Emotional Loss and Self-formation in Jerry Pinto’s The Education of Yuri

Abstract

The bildungsroman has traditionally been associated with narratives of growth that culminate in self-realisation and social integration. However, in postcolonial contexts, the genre undergoes significant transformation, reflecting fractured identities, emotional instability, and the pressures of urban modernity. Jerry Pinto’s The Education of Yuri presents a contemporary Indian reworking of the bildungsroman that resists the promise of resolution and instead foregrounds education as a process of emotional endurance and lived experience. This paper examines how the novel redefines self-formation through the interrelated forces of urban space, informal learning, and emotional loss. It argues that Yuri’s education unfolds not within the confines of formal institutions but through his encounters with the city of Bombay, personal relationships, ideological disillusionment, and trauma. By situating the novel within the evolving tradition of the Indian Bildungsroman, the study demonstrates how Pinto challenges classical models of development and offers a deeply human portrayal of growth as incomplete, vulnerable, and ongoing in postcolonial urban India.