Modernist Narrative in Virtual Reality: Fragmentation, Flow, and Discourse

Abstract

This paper examines how modernist narrative techniques of stream of consciousness and fragmentation are remediated in contemporary virtual reality (VR) storytelling. Drawing on discourse-narratological frameworks, it analyzes how these literary strategies transform from linguistic expression into spatial, sensory, and ergodic discourse structures. The aim is to demonstrate that VR does not constitute a narrative rupture but continues modernist principles through new semiotic channels, positioning users as active interpreters rather than passive recipients. The empirical material consists of three VR films—Dear Angelica (2017), Notes on Blindness (2016), and Spheres (2018)—selected for their emphasis on subjective perception, memory, and non-linearity. These works are compared with modernist novels including Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse, and James Joyce's Ulysses. The methodology employs qualitative discourse analysis combined with Transmedial narratology, focusing on spatial transitions, sensory cues, and user navigation patterns across multiple viewings of each VR piece. Key findings reveal that stream of consciousness manifests as spatial flows driven by sensorial montage rather than syntactic disruption, while fragmentation becomes ergodic reconstruction requiring embodied navigation. In Dear Angelica, memory fragments orbit the user spatially; Notes on Blindness organizes consciousness through auditory episodes; and Spheres externalizes cosmic reflection without temporal markers. These techniques decentralize narrative authority and compels users to assemble coherence through movement and perception, echoing modernist interpretive demands but physicalizing interpretive labor. The study contributes to digital humanities by bridging literary modernism with VR discourse, challenging immersion-centric VR research. It extends Transmedial narratology to account for embodiment and spatiality, offering new analytical tools for immersive media. Findings suggest VR creators draw implicitly from modernist strategies with implications for narrative design that prioritize ambiguity and reconstruction over linear exposition.