The frame within a frame: a short-short story sequence theory in a sequence of short-shorts

The short-short has often made the most of its contemporary surroundings. Content on the Internet in the world of self-publishing, it seems to be the embodiment of a twenty-first-century trend for playfulness; that which embraces technology rather than shying away from it. But this has often given the short-short an air of fleetingness, of transience, and therefore something not to be taken seriously. But the short-short demands and deserves scrutiny; it is a complex form which thrives on possibility, which thrives on questioning boundaries. Those that have dismissed the short-short as it sped past them may have failed to recognize its ability to reflect fragmented twenty-first-century identities, and how it is steadily creeping out of the Internet, out of collections and anthologies, into more manifestations, manipulating the novel to its own ends. This article explores the short-short story sequence in a sequence of short-shorts, demonstrating how fragmented, protean short-short writing reflects marginalized experiences, creating performative texts.