This study aims to investigate the dimensions of human formation and the role of the educational institution in Central European school novels of the early twentieth century. The first part describes how literature, in particular novels of formation, can be used as a research tool on pedagogical thinking and the history of education. This is a study of qualitative and hermeneutic methodology, based on the analysis of three novels, set within the framework of the educational system of the Second German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The sample of novels that was chosen consists of Under the Wheels by Hermann Hesse (1906), The Tribulations of student Törless by Robert Musil (1906) and The Gerber Student by Friedrich Torberg (1929). As a result of the analysis, five dimen-sions of human formation are identified: intellectual, spiritual, creative, ethical and interpersonal dimensions. Notably, the three authors criticise school. They denounce the lack of concern for the well-being and health of students, and highlight the school’s role in forming obedient citizens. The article concludes with the defence of literature as a possible language from which to explain, analyse and think about pedagogical phenomena. At the same time, it raises some points about the multidimensional nature of human formation.