It's an exaggeration to claim that "almost every other literary genre is about character development". Detective, espionage and historical novels usually aren't "about" character development, I think, and those are probably the biggest genres if you exclude romance and sci-fi.
Of course one would expect to see some character development in a story that covers a large part of anyone's life but that doesn't make the story "about" character development.
Most so-called literary fiction (the stuff that gets lots of highbrow reviews, not so many sales, wins prizes this year and is totally forgotten in two years' time) tends to be about character development, perhaps even more so than romance.
Of course one would expect to see some character development in a story that covers a large part of anyone's life but that doesn't make the story "about" character development.
Most so-called literary fiction (the stuff that gets lots of highbrow reviews, not so many sales, wins prizes this year and is totally forgotten in two years' time) tends to be about character development, perhaps even more so than romance.