The aim of this blog is to serve as a meeting point to those who study or have studied English philology and, more broadly, to all those who love literature and language.

9 May 2009

SIX WORDS STORIES

Wait! There is another peculiar literary genre (genre? Maybe ‘variety’ fits better) in English language literature. The creator it is said to be Ernest Hemingway. It seems that, back in 1920, Hemingway´s friends bet him that he couldn´t write a complete story in just six words. He won and the legend says that Hemingway considered it his best work. Here is the result:

“For sale: baby shoes, never used”

There exists another version of the story that goes like this:

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn”

I couldn´t find relevant information that confirm any of them as the original one, but it would be interesting to know the opinion of the scholars of Hemingway´s work.

Anyhow, I´ll post here a bunch of samples of six words stories:

“Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?” William Shatner

“Longed for him. Got him. Shit.” Margaret Atwood

“Starlet sex scandal. Giant squid involved.” Margaret Atwood

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

“The baby´s blood type? Human, mostly.” Orson Scott Card

“TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! …nobody there…” Harry Harrison

“Easy. Just touch the match to” Ursula K. Le Guinn

And I´ve left my favorite for last:

“Five zombies. Four bullets. Two zombies.” Brian

1 comment:

  1. My homage to Hemingway's story:
    http://garciala.blogia.com/2007/060301-dos-microrrelatos.php

    ReplyDelete