fragmentariness

Fragmentariness is the quality or condition of being composed of fragments rather than a single, continuous whole. It can describe texts, artworks, or experiences in which meaning is assembled from disparate parts rather than through linear progression or complete cohesion. The term is used across disciplines, and it may reflect intentional design, artistic style, or emergent properties of production and interpretation.

Etymologically, fragmentariness derives from fragmentum, with the English suffix -ness, denoting a state or quality.

In literature, fragmentariness is often a deliberate technique associated with modernist and postmodernist writing. It can take the form of non-linear chronology, episodic vignettes, juxtaposed scenes, lacunae, or shifts in narrative voice, all aimed at shaping perception, memory, or subjective experience rather than a straightforward plot. Writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and William Faulkner are frequently cited for their fragmentary approaches, though the device appears in many later works as well.

In other arts and media, fragmentation appears as montage, collage, or abrupt cuts that interrupt continuity. It also bears on reception, as readers or viewers must assemble meaning from fragments rather than be presented with a smooth, unbroken narrative.

The concept is tied to broader debates about coherence, totalizing narratives, and the texture of contemporary subjectivity in media-rich cultures. Fragmentariness can be read as a critique of grand narratives or as a stylistic strategy that intensifies ambiguity, openness, and interpretive effort.

Critics debate whether fragmentation enhances insight or undermines intelligibility, and discussions often address readerly interpretation, authority, and the politics of representation.