The article analyses three novels: « L’Éducation sentimental» by Gustave Flaubert, «Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre» by Wolfgang Goethe and «Os Maias» by Eça de Queiroz. The author proves the novel «Os Maias» has got much in common with Bildungsroman and shows that the fate of the Maias is the fate of Portugal, the great empire in the past witch became an outlying district of Europe in the XIX century.