Fragmentation in postmodern narrative : American Psycho, Life of Pi, and No Country for Old Men

Abstract

This dissertation explores the notion of fragmentation in relation to postmodern narrative and specifically in relation to American Psycho (1991), Life of Pi (2001), and No Country for Old Men (2006). This is done by looking at how fragmentation is present in metafictional narrative and how its presence and use as a narrative technique influences the relationship between the text and its reader. By also considering the effects on the text itself, the discussion looks at how truth and meaning are handled in a metafictional narrative. To argue for such aspects of fragmentation in postmodernism, the development of modernist features of fragmentation is touched upon within the introduction. The main focus of the dissertation then shifts to the adaptations which occurred during postmodernism, doing so by referencing the three main texts as a testimony to the effectiveness and overall influence postmodern fragmentation has on the reader. An example of this can be seen in Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, in which it is argued that reality through fragmentation becomes strangely linked to fiction in a way that is able to generate a multiplicity of perspectives. Fragmentation is also then argued to be an influential force on the protagonist and other characters. This allows the discussion to then shift to Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, which touches upon the influence of frustration through fragmentation in the construction of narrative form. This frustration is one which is developed through the complexity of meaning-making within postmodernism, which is felt by characters and the reader. However, this frustration is argued to be a necessary product of the fragmentation process. This process is one which encourages the subversion of the role of the reader into that of a co-creator, which is able to imbue the text’s criticism with a multiplicity of perspectives, challenging the idea of texts inherently having a singular meaning. This point is finalised in the discussion of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men which argues for the place of fragmentation in narrative by analysing the relationship of frustration and the notion of play. Finally, all three texts are compared in the conclusion, and the most relevant aspects of fragmentation such as its use as a narrative technique and as an influence on the relationship of text and reader are brought to the forefront in order to evaluate the reactions such a narrative technique has garnered.