A vignette is a short (< 1000 words), descriptive literary sketch, usually capturing a single scene or a brief slice-of-life moment in a character’s experience.
Usually in people’s comments to some crazy AskReddit questions I used to read really cool stuff like that, then just online I began coming across vignettes written by authors and artists. One of my favorites is “A Choice of Three” by Alex Turner (frontman of Arctic Monkeys), Leonard Cohen also writes good ones, Ernest Hemingway, etc.
If you have any similar ones I’d love to read them!
Depending on your definition of literary, one of my favorites was Hellboy’s My Vacation in Hell. If I end up finding a version posted somewhere, I’ll add a link.