Fragmentation and Discontinuity in Hyper-Text Literature: A Study of Michael Joyce’s Afternoon, a Story

Abstract

The present study is concerned with Michael Joyce’s Afternoon, a Story (1987), as one of the fundamental works of hypertext fiction which plays a crucial role in the evolution of digital literature. It investigates how fragmentation and discontinuity function within a literary text; they are not merely seen as stylistic devices but structural principles. The study argues that Afternoon transforms fragmentation into an epistemological condition through an analysis rooted in poststructuralist theory and media studies. The paper also analyzes the way Joyce’s Afternoon, a Story decentralizes narrative authority, subverts chronological order, and redefines the role of the reader through embedding discontinuity into its digital form. Therefore, fragmentation and discontinuity are essential elements that are meant to reflect significant transition and systematic shifts in narrative forms in the digital age.