Vignette (literature)

A vignette (vɪnˈjɛt, also viːnˈ-) is a French loanword expressing a short and descriptive piece of writing that captures a brief period in time. Vignettes are more focused on vivid imagery and meaning rather than plot. Vignettes can be stand-alone, but they are more commonly part of a larger narrative, such as vignettes found in novels or collections of short stories. Examples of vignettes include Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, Margaret Atwood’s The Female Body, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, and Alice Walker’s The Flowers. Vignettes have been particularly influential in the development of the contemporary notions of a scene as shown in postmodern theater, film and television, where less emphasis is placed on adhering to the conventions of traditional structure and story development. The word vignette means "little vine" in French, and was derived from Old French vigne, meaning “vineyard”. In English, the word was first documented in 1751, and was given the definition “decorative design". This definition refers to decorative artwork of vine-leaves and tendrils used to embellish title pages and the commencement of chapters. In 1853, the word was used to describe a popular 19th century photographic style, where portraits had blurred edges. The definition of a vignette referring to a “literary sketch” was first recorded in 1880. The idea of the "literary sketch" was derived from the sketch in visual arts - a rough or unfinished drawing or painting, showing the main elements of an artwork. This reflects the characteristics of a vignette; brief and spontaneous, with a sense of immediacy. 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. According to Norman Sims (2007), these vignette sketches “provided writers with something we often miss today: the opportunity to write about ordinary life.” These 19th century vignettes frequently offered few facts which could be verified, and tended to blend journalism with fiction.