six- word stories: the brain child of papa,the great

7/30/2019 Six- Word Stories: The Brain child of Papa,the great.

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Six-Word story----Papas gift to the posterity.

Indranil Sarkar

A biography of Ernest Hemingway is no less

interesting than all the novels and stories, he wrote. In many

ways, the life-story of Ernest Hemingway is more fascinating

than his novels. Hemingway is undoubtedly the icon to the

post-war Americans. Hemingway fought in the battle-field as

a soldier and ambulance driver in the 1st World War. He was an

amateur bull-fighter, a big game fighter in Africa, a war-

journalist in the 2nd World War, had the experience of

marrying four times, won Nobel Prize for literature in 1953

and committed suicide like his father in 1961. Both in life and

in works, Hemingway expressed the dreams and frustrations

of the after-war American society in a vivid and lucid


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language. This Light & shade approach reached the climax in

his winning of the Nobel Prize for literature.

His literary career is blessed with seven novels, six short

story collections, and two non-fiction works. Three novels,

four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction works

were published posthumously. Hemingway was often censured

by many for writing bad stories but some of his writings like

A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the bell Tolls , The Sun also

Rises and The Old Man and the Sea are considered classics

of American literature. This is because in most cases it

becomes very difficult to demarcate the point where the The

Hemingway hero andthe Code hero fuse together. Moreover,

his Ice-berg theory of the language of prose-fiction has been

proved to be the most authentic literary theory.


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Beside his memorable novels and numerous short stories,

Hemingway is endearing to the modern readers for one of his

lesser known innovative literary techniques, his invention of

writing novels or stories with just six-words.

Long before the literary critics could foresee the approaching

death of novels in modern or postmodern world, Papa guessed

it. From his personal life he learnt the dearth of time in a

modern mans life. At the same time, he knew that men must

satisfy their literary thirst in order to remain human in a

mechanical world. So, he invented a technique of writing

novels with just six-words for the postmodern men. However,

he never claimed the credit of such a unique gift he offered

to the modern world (which may be compared with the most

sophisticated invention of the modern science.)


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And everything in this regard happened quite playfully.

Hemingway hated to be called a traditional good-man. Like

many other American vices, he had a habit of spending time in

the cafes and restaurants with his friends. He had also the

habit of indulging in Bets which was very popular in those

days. (Anton Chekovs short story of the same name may be

recalled). It is said that sometimes good comes out of evil.

The birth of Six-Word novels is obviously one such. And it

got its birth in one such gathering in 1930.

Papathe great


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Earnest Hemingway used to attend round table

meeting at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan regularly. In

most of the occasions he was accompanied with William

Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker and a few other

literary notables of the time. In one such gathering in 1930,

Hemingway proclaimed, "I'll bet each of you ten dollars that I

can write a novel in only six words. Place a ten dollar bill in

front of you. I'll write the words on this paper and fold it.

When you hear the words if any of you disagree with my

statement, I'll pay each of you ten dollars. If there are

no objections, I take your money." Everybody obliged.

Hemingway took the pen and wrote his story on the napkin and

passed it for judgment. Faulkner unfolded the napkin and

read: For sale: Baby shoes. Never used." Everybody

accepted it a novel having all the characteristics of a good


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novel. The six-words provides the beginning, the middle and

the end of a thought provoking story. Hemingway won the bet

and collected the money. It is said that Hemingway later

called it his best. .

Although the authenticity of the story has not yet

been proved, it is assumed to be correct. In this regard the

opinion of two great writers may be cited. Vignette Circa

cited an anecdote of Hemingway in 1974 claiming the

authorship of the first Six-Word story to Hemingway. And in

1992, the Canadian literary figure John Robert Colombo

printed part of a letter that he had received from the famous

science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke who was residing in


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Colombo, Sri Lanka. Clarke was familiar with the Hemingway

anecdote and suggested a setting of the Hemingway legend. In

1997, a piece in the New York Times also mentioned the yarn

with Hemingway.

Thus quite playfully Hemingway gave birth to a new genre of

novels which have been flourishing since then. William

Faulkner once said that a novelist is a failed short story

writer, and a short story writer is a failed poet. Hemingway,

with his creation of the six-word story, combined poetry and

drama into a short form and thus showed the path to be a

successful novelist at the same time. It would not be wrong to

say that present day flash fiction, micro fiction, sudden

fiction, short-short fiction, postcard fiction, minute fiction,

quick fiction, furious fiction and skinny fiction----all have


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their roots in Papas Six-Word novel. Likewise, it would not be

an over-estimation if he is called the pioneer of the 21st

century Word Sonnets. Rather than embracing the flowery

prose of the literati, he chose to write in a very simple and

clear manner.

The baby shoes story was earlier referred to as a "short-

short" story, but the general conceit of trying to tell a story

with the absolute minimum of words is now known by the

general term of flash fiction. Again, the six-word limit in

particular has spawned the concept of Six-Word Memoires

also.

In recent times it has become a pastime for the intelligentsia

to write six-word stories. It has become so tempting and

challenging that even the established authors cannot show


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reluctance to this. They are also trying their hands in this new

heart-throb of modern literature. A number of websites are

over-crowded with hundreds of unique six-word stories. A

number of such websites are engaged in promoting regular

competitions. The following stories by revered authors may

provide an elaborate idea of the overwhelming nature of six-

word stories:

Found true love. Married someone else. Dave Eggers

As she fell, her mind wandered.Rebecca Miller

With bloody hands, I say good-bye.- Frank Miller

It cost too much, staying human.- Bruce Sterling

Thought I was right. I wasn't.- Graeme Gibson

Poison; meditation; skiing; ants nothing worked.Edward Albee

Bad brakes discovered at high speed.J. Baumeister

I came. I saw. I conquered. --William Shakespeare Julius Caesar

"Tried hard to be clever, failed."

Set sail, great storm, one survived.-John Banville


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One bullet. Ten enemies. Kills himself.--Xia Chen Hao

Best friends. Circumstances change. Worst enemies.Nikita Bhosle

Mad-making mechanism fails. Functionaries got scolded.Arrogance, Abuse, admonition, assaults; aggravated attraction.

While studying the innovative changes in literary techniques, a

very surprising phenomenon was revealed. It is really amazing

to notice that almost all the innovative literary techniques had

been experimented by William Shakespeare in his writings in

some way or the other. Truly speaking, the Bard left no way

untrodden for the posterity. So, every debate or discussion on

literary creativity ends with him as somebody said We begin

only to return from where we began.

The case of Six-Word story is also no exception. It is quite

debatable whether Hemingway really invented it in 1930 or

not, but we have a definite proof of Shakespeare using the


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technique nearly 500years ago in his Julius Caesar, although

not as a present day six-word story or Flash fiction but as a

metafiction or meta-narrative. (Ceasars comment: I came, I

saw, I conquered in Julius Caesar.

References & links:-

1.www.creative commons.org

2.www.sixwordstories.net/about/3.www.smithmagazine.com

4.www.sixwordstories.co.uk/

5.www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html

6. www.wikipedea.org

******Indranil Sar ar


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six- word stories: the brain child of papa,the great

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