El fragmentarismo en la novela modernista española : el Diario de un enfermo (1901) de Azorín

Abstract

This article examines fragmentation in Azorín’s debut novel, titled Diario de un enfermo (1901). It will firstly underscore how fragmentation facilitates one of the main features of modernist novels –interiorisation. This paper will then deploy the categories of narrative fragments identified by Frank Kermode in order to undertake an analysis of fragmentation in Diario de un enfermo, focusing on the ways in which fragments interrupt the plot helping to intensify narrative interiorisation. The article will explain that the purpose of the novel, according to the narrator, is to offer a portrait of his soul and that the fragments are crucial to achieve this. Our analysis concludes that, not only does the use of fragments result in a fragmented novel, but fragments do also allow for a forceful exploration of the protagonist’s inner feelings and of his listless conception of life.