UNDERSTANDING FLASH FICTION BY THE SIX-WORD STORY: “FOR SALE: BABY SHOES, NEVER WORN”
Keywords:
Prose, flash fiction, six-word story
Abstract
Literary work never limits itself to any type or idea. Discussing fiction, sometimes we do not mention flash fiction: a type of very short story, even only a few words, but can contain so many interpretations according to each reader. This study shows the history, elements, and characteristics of flash fiction as a type of prose. For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn is one of the well-known flash fiction stories. Although generally attributed to Ernest Hemingway, the link to him is unsubstantiated. We can analyze this six-word story into every two words of each sentence: the meaning of “For Sale”, “Baby Shoes”, and “Never Worn”. In this way, we can have many interpretations for each word and also the meaning as a whole.
References
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Dougweller. For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn, https://www.dougweller.net/for-sale-baby-shoes-never-worn/.
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Nebula Awards. “Nebula Rules” , http://nebulas.sfwa.org/about-the-nebulas/nebula-rules/.
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Mario Klarer. (1999). An Introduction to Literary Studies. New York, Routledge.
Gilead, A. (2008). How Few Words Can the Shortest Story Have? Philosophy and Literature 32(1), 119-129. doi:10.1353/phl.0.0009.
Jones, J. (2015). The (Urban) Legend of Ernest Hemingway’s Six-Word Story:‘For Sale, Baby shoes, Never worn’. Open Culture, 24.
O’Toole, G. (2017). Concoctions:" For sale: baby shoes, never worn".
Rudin, M. (2011). From Hemingway to Twitterature: The short and shorter of it. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 14(2).
Catherine S. “Flash Fiction Definition and History” https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-flash-fiction-2990523.
Cliffnotes. “In which Hemingway short story is the saying, "Children's shoes for sale"?” https://www.cliffsnotes.com/cliffsnotes/subjects/literature/in-which-hemingway-short-story-is-the-saying-quotchildrens-shoes-for-sale.
Dougweller. For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn, https://www.dougweller.net/for-sale-baby-shoes-never-worn/.
Garson O'Toole. “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn” https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/01/28/baby-shoes/.
Nebula Awards. “Nebula Rules” , http://nebulas.sfwa.org/about-the-nebulas/nebula-rules/.
Reedsy. What is Flash Fiction? https://blog.reedsy.com/what-is-flash-fiction/.
Slate. “Did Hemingway Really Write His Famous Six-Word Story?” https://slate.com/culture/2013/01/for-sale-baby-shoes-never-worn-hemingway-probably-did-not-write-the-famous-six-word-story.html.
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