Fragmentista

Fragmentista is a term used in literary and art criticism to describe a writer, artist, or theorist who foregrounds fragmentation as a central technique or epistemological stance. The word derives from fragment, with the agentive suffix -ista, common in Romance languages. In practice, a fragmentista produces works made of fragments—isolated passages, aphorisms, abrupt juxtapositions, or non-contiguous scenes—instead of a single linear narrative or argument. The form often aims to invite multiple readings, undermine authorial authority, and reflect the fragmentary experience of memory, identity, or society.

In literature and poetry, fragmentistas may assemble texts from disparate sources, employ cut-ups, or present collage-like sequences. In visual arts and cinema, fragmentarian sensibilities appear as montage, fragmentation of form, or non-linear sequencing. The concept is associated with modernist and postmodern questions about representation, truth, and the construction of meaning, and with avant-garde movements that reject wholeness as the default structure.

Critically, fragmentism is valued for its openness and plurality, yet it can be criticized for appearing obscure or fragmentary to readers seeking conventional coherence. The term is descriptive rather than a formal school, and its usage varies across languages and disciplines.

See also: fragmentation, montage, fragmentary novel, postmodernism, cut-up technique.