Fragmentation In Postmodern Literature

Abstract

Postmodern literature is characterized by a number of features and Fragmentation is one of the prominent features of Postmodern literature. Fragmentation is an important aspect of Postmodernism. Fragmented narratives comprise of  the events jumbled together and the readers are expected to make sense of  the sequence of the story by collaborating the different components of story. Intertextuality is a theory associated with fragmentation  which advocates that a piece of literature is impacted and shaped by the literature composed earlier. The present paper will explore the  fragmentation of the personality of the individuals during the Postmodern era. After World War- 11, the Modernist writers  tried to express their grief regarding the sadness brought by war through the literary mediums as depicted in the Waste Land.  The Modernist literature tried to project the art as a tool to bring meaning to the world which had almost lost its meaning. The Postmodern literature on the other hand tried to embrace the idea of Fragmentation and used this technique to create playful texts which reflected the chaos of the world.The Postmodernism literature did not find any grand meaning or insights as it realized a disintegration of the personalities of individuals through different literary works such as William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! The novel rejected the idea of meta narrative and pointed to the fact that it was not possible to reach ultimate truth since the people in the Postmodern world deal with multiple truths and realities owing to the fact that ultimate truth did not exist. Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) is all about Fragmentation; owing to the fact that its protagonist travels around in time. This fragmentation not only lets Vonnegut play around with time and place; but also reflects the sense of Psychological Fragmentation faced by the protagonist of the novel. Postmodern writers advocate  breaking narratives into irregular pieces in order to present a complex reality and ambiguity reflecting the uncertain state of the world. Postmodern literature tends to reflect the chaos and disorder prevalent in the world by making use of various techniques such as fragmentation, intertextuality,irony,metafiction and Pastiche.