Vignette (literature)
[1] This definition refers to decorative artwork of vine-leaves and tendrils used in books as a border around the edges of title pages and the start of chapters.
[5] In the 19th century, vignettes were found in newspapers and acted as brief and vivid descriptions of the news article’s subject, from the perspective of the writer.
[6] These vignette sketches provided writers with a sense of imaginative freedom, and reflected the larger Victorian movement of integrating real life and art.
[6] Aside from journalism, vignettes in the form of the “literary sketch” became popularised in the Victorian era by authors such as William Makepeace Thackeray and Charles Dickens, and their works would often appear in newspapers and magazines.
[5] The fragmentary and immediate style of these vignettes reflected the 19th century’s sense of economic and social instability, and the rapid pace of urban life.
[5] The sketches represented a smaller part of a larger story and conveyed themes relevant to the Victorian Era such as social class, work and money.
[10] Techniques in postmodern literature such as minimalistic, “slice of life” stories and fragmentation became popular, which are also key characteristics of vignettes.
[11] A vignette contains less action and plot structure than flash fiction, and instead focuses on vividly capturing a single scene or a brief slice-of life moment in a character's experience.
[3] In Ernest Hemingway’s collection of short stories In Our Time, individual vignettes integrate into an overarching narrative rather than acting as brief, isolated descriptions.
For example, the web series High Maintenance uses vignettes to explore the lives of a different set of characters in each episode.
Writers of vignettes include Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, Ernest Hemingway, V. K. N., Sandra Cisneros, William S. Burroughs, and Tim O'Brien.
[18] Alice Walker’s two-page vignette The Flowers depicts a young African-American girl discovering the body of a lynched man while walking in the woods.
[19] This vignette provides an insight into themes of racial violence and slavery, as well as commenting on the loss of childhood innocence and the coming of age.
[20] Vadakkke Koottala Narayanankutty Nair, commonly known as V. K. N. (7 April 1929 – 25 January 2004), was a prominent Malayalam writer, noted mainly for his highbrow satire.
[18] Written as a non-linear and fragmented collection of vignettes,[22] The House on Mango Street explores Latin-American identity through the eyes of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago.
[3] The House on Mango Street explores themes such as coming of age, identity, class, gender, innocence, family and friendship.
[3] William S. Burroughs was an American writer known for his experimental novels that provide insight into themes of sexuality and drug addiction.
[18] His collection of short stories The Things They Carried contains related vignettes that describe sentimental objects that soldiers took with them to the war in Vietnam.
