What is fractured narrative?

[livealife]

hi,

I am not sure whether I posted this in the correct place, but really what is the meaning of fractured narrative? I really need to know about it.

Thanks a lot.
livealife

[Virgil]

I'm partially guessing here, but I think it refers to a narrative that is disjointed. What does that mean, you may ask? A naarative that stops, perhpas flashes back, perhaps picks up another thread, and then returns.

[mono]

Indeed, Virgil, the term describes a book that may not proceed in a linear style, but may wander sporadically in time, plot, and a reader can often see this type of style in so-called 'stream-of-consciousness' literature.
In essence, anything by Virginia Woolf would seem an excellent example of fractured narrative literature. Good luck!

[Kelly_Sprout]

Perhaps one of the best (ie: well-known, highly-illustrative, and in the end, comprehensible) examples of fractured narrative would be the Quintin Tarantino movie, "Pulp Fiction".

[livealife]

Wow thanks alot. So it means that you won't get a story that will just flow in a constant direction, it's like going back to the past and coming back and again continue.
Now I think Jane Eyre is not a novel like that. What are these type of novels called if it is not a fractured narrative?

[Jean-Baptiste]

Some of the works of William Faulkner might fit this bill entirely, such as The Sound and the Fury, or As I Lay Dying. These have a multitude of narrators, who all present their own version of what is (or was) taking place, all with varying degrees of reliability.

[mono]

Now I think Jane Eyre is not a novel like that. What are these type of novels called if it is not a fractured narrative?

Of course, in some aspects, one could consider Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre, fractured literature (narrative), and many works of that era, in my opinion.
To answer your second question, unfortunately, I only know the term 'fractured narrative' (or fractured literature, plot, storyline, etc.) by that name, though others may simply label them as 'time lapses' or 'plot jumping.'