Claim: The Hangsaman is a bildungsroman novel referenced from Paula Jean Welden's case, an American college student who disappeared while walking on Vermont's Long Trail hiking route.
Evidence: The second of Jackson's published novels, Hangsaman is a bildungsroman centering on lonely college freshman Natalie Waite, who descends into madness after enrolling in a liberal arts college. The official publisher's description of Hangsaman says the novel is "loosely based on the real-life disappearance of a Bennington College sophomore in 1946," referencing the case of Paula Jean Welden. In literary criticism, a Bildungsroman (German pronunciation: [ˈbɪldʊŋs.ʁoˌmaːn, plural Bildungsromane, German pronunciation: [ˈbɪldʊŋs.ʁoˌmaːnə) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood (coming of age), in which character change is important. The term comes from the German words Bildung ("education") and Roman ("novel"). Paula Jean Welden (born October 19, 1928; disappeared December 1, 1946) was an American college student who disappeared while walking on Vermont's Long Trail hiking route.