Green Henry is a partially autobiographical novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by the Swiss author Gottfried Keller

Gottfried Keller

Gottfried Keller , a Swiss writer of German-language literature, was best known for his novel Green Henry .- Life and work :...

, first published in 1855, and extensively revised in 1880. The work stands with Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship is the second novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1795-96. While his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, featured a hero driven to suicide by despair, the eponymous hero of this novel undergoes a journey of self-realization...

and Adalbert Stifter's Der Nachsommer

Der Nachsommer

Der Nachsommer is a novel in three volumes by Adalbert Stifter. A 19th century Bildungsroman that describes the journey of an idealistic, sheltered young man from childhood to maturity, it combines aspects of Biedermeier thought with elements of German humanism to create what is generally...

as one of the three most important examples of a Bildungsroman

Bildungsroman

In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...

. It details the life of Heinrich Lee from childhood through his first romantic encounters, his fledgling attempts at becoming a painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, and his eventual installation as a chancery

Chancery

Chancery may refer to:* Chancery , the building that houses a diplomatic mission, such as an embassy* Chancery , a medieval writing office* Chancery , in Ceredigion, Wales...

clerk.