Fragmentation

Fragmentation, usually created by structure and materiality, works like collage in art, the way Vannevar Bush describes the connections the mind makes—causes the viewer/reader to make connections to potentially disparate objects or lexias, fill in the gaps. Coover’s structure is fragmented, mainly lexias of text, merging perspectives, time, and possibilities, separated by white space that the reader must fill in with meaning. In “How Do I Stop This Thing?,” J. Yellowlees Douglas remarks on the effects of fragmentation:

“the convergence of voices, past and present, the snatches of experience that become the grain that irritates, the core that we pearl over to become the stuff of fiction” (183).

Another postmodern text that highlights materiality with fragmentation is Nabokov’s Pale Fire. Written as a poem and commentary, it is a profound satire on authorship, the author/reader relationship, and subjective Truth.
            In Michael Joyce’s hypertext, afternoon, a story, is made up of fragmented lexias, which change perspective, setting, and narrative thread; it often takes more than one reading of the text (for J. Yellowlees Douglas, four readings) to compose a solid narrative from the bits and pieces of character and plot one might be given on first encountering the text. Patchwork Girl is also fragmented, lending to the overall feel of a patchwork narrative and the metaphor of the monster made of various body parts pieced together, additionally a metaphor for writing a hypertext.