The Fragment in Children’s and Young Adult Literature – Testimonies of a Fragile Reality

Abstract

The concept and history of the literary fragment have received little attention in children’s and youth literature research, although there are some examples of both fragmentary texts and feigned fragments in children’s and youth literature. The article deals with definitions of the fragment and briefly presents examples from children’s and youth literature. Exemplarily and in more detail the two works Verloren in Eis und Schnee (2018) by Davide Morosinotto as well as Eine halbe Banane und die Ordnung der Welt (2021) by Sara Michaela Orlovský are analyzed from an anthropological-literary perspective, focusing on different varieties as well as functions of the fragmentary. On the one hand, the fragment reminds us of the vulnerability of human existence and the transience of material things; on the other hand, it points to the possibility of renewal and, as in a search for traces, encourages us to look for its complement.