The postmodern analysis: fragmentation, metafiction, nonlinearity, intertextuality and simulacra in Inanimate Alice

Abstract

Inanimate Alice is a digital novel created by Kate Pullinger and Chris Joseph. The novel protagonist, a young girl named Alice, grows up in a digital world, navigating the complexities of the digital, technological and virtual environment. This research article critically analyses Inanimate Alice from the perspective of postmodern theory, examining how the novel challenges traditional notions of storytelling. The researcher employs Alan Mackee's concept of textual analysis to explore how Inanimate Alice challenges the conventional narrative structure, disrupts the notion of a unified self, and blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality. The researcher focuses on Baudrillard's concepts of hyperreality and simulacra, as well as Lyotard’s exploration of postmodernism and the fragmentation of narratives. This offers valuable insights into the themes and ideas explored in the digital narrative and theoretical discourse under investigation. This paper is significant because it analyses digital literature from a postmodern perspective as the literary writing style transforms from textual to digital form. The paper argues that Inanimate Alice's non-linear, fragmented narrative reflects the postmodern condition of the contemporary world, where reality is constructed through digital media.