World’s Shortest Short Story !
A few days ago, just by chance, I happened to read a column in one of the newspapers, which said that the world’s best short-story ever written, was supposedly written by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) .
The word “supposedly” indicates that no factual confirmation as yet, has been made as to whether Hemingway ever actually wrote it. Readers can try to solve the mystery if they are inclined and have the time and the desire.
I understand that the celebrated author wrote it (sometime in 1920 ?) to win a $ 10 bet in some bar where he was sitting with some literary friends. The story consisted of six words. Three short sentences of two words each. He won the bet of course! The story goes thus:
“For Sale; Baby Shoes; Never Worn.”
“Wow”, I said!
What a story! Full of just great love, irreparable loss and immense grief.
Lot of un-answered questions too! Who bought the shoes? What happened to the baby? If it died a tragic death, did the mother preserve them as a reminder of the tragedy ? When and why did she finally put them up for sale? Had she overcome her grief? Did she find a buyer? So many such questions popped up in my mind.
I did a little research on this story. I managed to reach a few sites which threw some light on this story and gave me more insights. But of that, later.(Please wait for my next posting in due course )
I shared the story with and requested a few of my friends and fellow-MUSE-icians , to immediately apply their literary / poetic mind to this gem of a story, and give me their reaction, comments etc.
This is how Shernaz Wadia responded:
“Regarding the story – It is a masterpiece,that leaves everything to the reader’s imagination and yet says so much. One could write a long short storyon these six words or turn it into a full length novel, but nothing would beat the beauty, the intensity and the depth of these six words!! What extraordinary potential they contain! They raise all the questions you have asked and more. It can even be construed as a gimmick of a shoe seller, to boost his sales. Whoever wrote it should be bestowed the highest award for short stories.”
Responses from some more friends are awaited. I cannot resist the urge to post this piece on Muse without any further delay.
Here is a feedback from a reader from a website : ” For years and years, since the very first time I’d heard of this Hemingway story, I’ve always remembered it as being, “For sale: baby’s shoes, never USED,” because I thought that Hemingway liked going for sound-alike, kind-of rhyme that SHOES and USED gave. Making it almost poem-like, a mini-haiku.” Is it a haiku or a senryu? I am not an expert! I request our friends like Gautam and Kala to share their expertise.
As regards choice of words “Used” or “Worn”, I feel that both are mutually inclusive. Shoes have to be worn to be considered as used. Not worn means not used. So let’s not have any controversy on that score. What do you say friends?
I shall eagerly await Muse readers’ responses before I post my next posting!
So shoot!
This is flash(micro) fiction.Very hard to master. Thanks for introducing this to Muse India.
Please refer to the following if interested-
* Flashes on the Meridian by Pam Casto
* Flash What? A Quick Look at Flash Fiction by Jason Gurley
* What is Flash Fiction? An Essay by Kathy Kachelries and Steve Smith
* Flash Fiction by Miriam N. Kotzin
* The Essentials of Micro-Fiction by Camille Renshaw
* “Short-Short Sighted” article series by Bruce Holland Rogers
* Writing Flash Fiction by G.W. Thomas
Srinivas, Hyderabad
Aug06, 2009
Dear Brocaji, The piece is interesting. And Shernaz’s analysis is complete, one can say. I don’t know, nor I venture to guess, what exactly Hemingway had in his mind. But if I am asked to develop the storyline, I’ve two versions. They would be as under, in brief.
First version:
Baby shoes that were very artistic, very beautiful, but made not of leather or rubber or plastic or canvas but of porcelain or glass were up for sale. (Nowadays, don’t we have the mega and mini crazy models of each and every object – which afford an enjoyable spectacle, even as the objects remain unusable?) They were no doubt bought and kept as a showpiece behind the glasses by the buyer. Naturally they could not be worn.
Second version:
A beautiful pair of baby shoes were on display for sale. They were bought by a couple with expectations. But they were never to get a baby. Hence the pair remained a relic of the couple’s unfulfilled hopes.
Thank you Brocaji for the mental fodder. Warmest regards.
Atreya Sarma U, Secunderabad-56
Aug 07, 2009
Dear Sirinivas, thanks for your prompt feedback.Yes it is indeed Flash Fiction.Thanks for listing out other sources.However, I would have loved to have your specific views and comments on the short story of Hemingway.
J S BROCA
New Delhi
07.08.09
Dear Atreyaji, I loved both your versions but I feel the second version is more in line with the sentiments expressed in Hemingway’s short story. Why not try writing a full length fictional piece on this story line.I am confident that you will spin a nice enchanting yarn !
J S Broca
new delhi
07.08.09
Dear Brocaji.Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond to your challenge by my maiden story on the lines.Here is my flash story written impromptu (to look original).
___________________________________________________________
“For Sale; Baby Shoes; Never Worn.”
Babies were for sale in that remote town. Some orphans were sold like in slumdog millionaire movie for many generations. Some were stolen from hospitals. The sooner they were stolen the usurpers morph the orphans’ features lest they are tracked down. Some allege that some mothers were unwed and discard the babies heartlessly (unkindly—though it was a fact that organs too were missing that question is still abegging) in the dustbins as and when they were emptied after a long time. Hence such incidents of deserting the babies are less frequent than missing kids.
When things remain so, one cute baby by name pinky (name factious-any resemblance to living or dead is denied like plague or the current H1N1). Pinky is blessed to have parents living and taking care still. Pinky was admitted into the government hospital for a regional viral disease (Private hospitals are banned to treat government fevers).One fine (even in fine mornings things happen unfortunately) Pinky was found missing by the role calling superintendent. They also missed Pinky’s baby shoes that were snow white. Other patients parents felt the loss like baby thrown along with the bathwater, some of them are knowledgeable idiomatically. Soon a police hunt was on for ‘the missing shoes as well as the baby. The shoes have been made in North Korea with a tracking device place inside the sole as soul less thieves like those in slumdog millionaire movie capitalize on the small children, press them into beggary and thievery to extract the moolah. Soon it was discovered after a prolonged search on the internet using signals sent by the GPS in the shoes. It is finally discovered that the baby in fact stayed in the same hospital. After a two day intensive search she was located in the neighboring block. The confusion happened as the baby was snatched by a stray dog in that unguarded hospital which is a norm in India. The dog did not pick up the shoes as it wears no shoes. The parents were happy and thanked the God for coming in the reverse order (by the back entrance) that is in the Dog and saved their apple of the eye.
_______________________________________________________________
With due respect to Brocaji for giving a story in the storyline which is as follows: “For Sale; Baby Shoes; Never Worn.” By Hemingway (By popular opinion)
Seshu Chamarty, Hyderabad
Aug 07, 2009
Dear Seshu ji. Wow! What a splendid yarn, laced with reality and tongue-in-cheek humour. ROFL ! ( Rolling On Floor Laughing ! ) Thanks.Hope some more readers take the bait !!
J S Broca
New Delhi 07.08.09
Seshu, 100% to your story; and 100% each for your imagination and story telling. Affectionate regards.
Atreya Sarma U, Secunderabad-56
Aug 08, 2009
Jitoo Uncle,
I am a late comer. I shall take this as my homework and shall try to complete it very soon. I hope you will wait. Till then take care. Atreya Uncle’s second version is very nice and Seshu Uncle’s story took me to a different world of as he has penned a story which is not imaginary but these are the real incidents that occur in a few hospitals. I shall give a try.
Dr Pooja G Bhuyar, Bijapur
Aug 08, 2009
Dear Atreya-ji: I fall flat for your second version of the story. You creative genius is really unfathomable. Respectful regards,
Suryaprakash Mothiki, Rajahmundry
Aug 08, 2009
Dear Broca-ji: Thank you for placing a kind of a brain teaser to all Muse Indians. I am convinced that it is Ernest Hemingway who wrote this six word story. Please see the following excerpts from London Times about his unpublished texts.
Thanks and regards,
Suryaprakash Mothiki
______________
Mary Welsh, Hemingway’s widow, donated Finca VigÍa to the Cuban Government to fulfil the writer’s wishes after he committed suicide in 1961. The collection at Finca VigÍa contains 22,000 items including books, letters and papers, as well as half-finished bottles of gin and whisky.
The writer, the baby shoes
· Ernest Hemingway was born in Illinois in 1899 to a country doctor and an opera singer. He went on to live and work in France, Italy, Canada, Kenya, Tanganyika, Spain, Cuba and Florida
· Apart from journalism and fiction writing, Hemingway tried his hand as a First World War ambulance driver, bullfighter and game hunter
· Married four times, he also fell in love with Marlene Dietrich, though their relationship was never consummated
· Suffering from alcoholism and lifelong depression, Hemingway committed suicide at the age of 61 by shooting himself
· He once said that his best work was only six words long: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”
Sources: Times archive, Columbia Encyclopaedia, The Oxford Companion to United States History
Suryaprakash Mothiki, Rajahmundry
Aug 08,2009
Dear Suryaprakashji, thanks a lot for taking all the trouble to trace the source of your confirmation to Times Archives. So the mystery seems resolved ! Yes it appears that indeed Ernest Hemingway was indeed the author of this gem of a short story.
J S BROCA
New Delhi 08.09.09
Summing It Up (in Six Words)
By Jennifer 8. Lee
The New York-based, online Smith magazine is releasing a collection of six-word memoirs called “Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure” (Harper Collins, 2008). The project was inspired, in part, by the legend of Ernest Hemingway responding to a challenge of a six-word story with “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Smith magazine (which shares the name of one of its co-founders, Larry Smith) began in 2006 to celebrate personal narrative, both large and small (and apparently, very small). The book, which was co-edited by Rachel Fershleiser, started with an online submission form, but grew to solicited contributions from notable New Yorkers.Some of the highlights:
Canada freezing. Gotham beckons. Hello, Si! — Graydon Carter
Secret to life: marry an Italian. — Nora Ephron
Brought it to a boil, often. — Mario Batali
Nobody cared, then they did. Why? — Chuck Klosterman
Eight thousand orgasms. Only one baby. — Neal Pollack
I asked. They answered. I wrote. — Sebastian Junger
Dad died, mom crazy, me, too. — Moby
Eat mutate aura amateur auteur true. — Jonathan Lethem
Fifteen years since last professional haircut. — Dave Eggers
Born bald. Grew hair. Bald again. — A. J. Jacobs
Well, I thought it was funny. — Stephen Colbert
Relatively famous parents, very low self-esteem. — Molly Jong-Fast
Fearlessness is the mother of reinvention. — Arianna Huffington
Eat drink man man man man. — Michael Musto
Mom, Dad. Daphne, Owen. Who’s next? — Sean Wilsey
Gave commencement address, became sex columnist. — Amy Sohn
I write because I can’t sleep. — Ben Mezrich
Started small, grew, peaked, shrunk, vanished. — George Saunders
Liars, hysterectomy didn’t improve sex life! — Joan Rivers
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The above article can be found in New York Times which is partially related to the interesting debate commenced by Mr. J S Broca in his World’s Shortest Short Story! (Muse India, August 6, 2009).
I believe that every author, consciously or subconsciously, commences a work of fiction with a few key words or key phrases. The author’s perception of his work of fiction can never be discovered by others—however competent or imaginative they may be.
Suryaprakash Mothiki
Rajahmundry
07.08.09
In this context one is reminded of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde which passionately proclaims that an artiste and his work are inseparable.
Dear Suryaprakashji, thanks for taking the trouble of finding out the article from NY Times and enlightening the readers of MUSE. The other similar summing ups in six words as per the entries received by the magazine, were also interesting, but I still feel that the so called shortest short story of Ernest Hemingway, remains in a class of its own. I am glad that you were spurred to further inquiry on reading my posting / debate in Muse on Aug 06, 2009. I soon plan to follow it up with another related posting.
J S Broca, New Delhi
Aug 08, 2009
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The possibilities are vast; all have thought of a sad angle; Maybe we could give it a positive angle sort of, like say the shoes (booties)were too small for the baby and the parents wanted to sell them in exchange for a bigger pair?? Or that they were sold for buying milk or a requirement more important for the baby as it was summer and too hot for the baby to wear booties?? Id like to think the baby is doing well and the parents are happy!!
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