Fragmentstexts

Fragmentstexts are a form of text constructed primarily from discrete textual fragments rather than a continuous narrative. Each fragment typically represents a short unit — a phrase, sentence, quotation, or excerpt — that may be taken from multiple sources or generated algorithmically. Fragmentstexts are used to explore relationships between fragments, to study how meaning emerges from juxtaposition, and to support modular, reusable text corpora.

Origin and terminology: The term fragmentstexts is used in digital humanities and experimental writing to describe collections or constructions made of fragments. The approach draws on traditions such as the cut-up technique in 20th‑century literature and on modern data- and text-mining workflows that assemble texts from units.

Characteristics and methods: Typical features include a high degree of modularity, non-sequential organization, and explicit metadata for each fragment (source, author, date, fragment type). Fragmentstexts may be assembled heuristically or algorithmically, with rules for overlap, ordering, and filtering. They can be stored in specialized formats that preserve fragment boundaries and provenance, enabling reassembly or analysis.

Uses and applications: In literary contexts, fragmentstexts support experimental poetry, archival reconstruction, and the study of quotation networks. In computational contexts, they underpin fragmentary corpora, search across fragments, and graph-based representations of intertextuality. They facilitate collaboration, annotation, and reproducible research, because individual fragments can be independently cited and re-used.

See also: Fragmentary writing, Cut-up technique, Collage, Hypertext, Text mining, Corpus linguistics.