Narrative in the Digital Age: The Influence of Digital Media on Contemporary American Fiction

Abstract

The digital age has transformed the ways in which individuals communicate, construct identity, and engage with narratives. During this paper the exploration of the social and psychological impacts of digital media, its influence on contemporary literary forms remains under examined, investigates narrative structures shapes digital culture and character construction in modern American fiction, with a focus on Lauren Oyler’s Fake Accounts (2021). This aims to analyze novel reflect and critique the fragmented, hyper-connected, and performative nature of online existence. Employing a qualitative, text-based research design, the study applies Gérard Genette’s narratology, examining aspects such as narrative order, focalization, temporality, and voice. The findings reveal that novel adopt non-linear, fragmented, and intertextual narrative techniques to mirror the cognitive and social patterns of digital engagement. Themes of digital identity, irony, and detachment demonstrate how contemporary fiction negotiates the tension between authenticity and performance in the online sphere. This study contributes to the field by highlighting the interplay between digital culture and literary form, offering insights for scholars, researchers, and practitioners interested in digital-era literature, narrative experimentation, and the evolving conception of identity in the twenty-first century.