The Gothic fragment is a type of Gothic fiction characterized by short, atmospheric stories with abrupt beginnings and ends.
Widely popular in the late 1700s, gothic fragments are narratives driven by supernatural motifs without explanation.
[1] Unlike the Gothic tale, fragments focus mostly on atmosphere instead of plot,[2] and they are written mostly to astonish the reader rather than provide a moral conclusion.
[5] Although their beginnings and endings are abrupt, they are not incomplete narratives.
[5] While distinctions between Gothic tales and fragments are not entirely well-defined – some stories, like "Fitzalan" (1797), tend to belong in both categories – most fragments are distinctively fragmentary.