Six-Word Stories

“Fishelov widens the significance of the six-word story by considering how it affords us a new vantage point to consider broader issues within literary studies, ranging from ‘What is a story?’ to key issues in genre theory. A wide-ranging and thorough work with valuable pedagogical applications.” —William Nelles, author of Frameworks: Narrative Levels and Embedded Narrative

“A masterly analysis of a new genre, conducted with an exemplary combination of scholarly wit and judgment.” —Burkhard Niederhoff, coeditor of Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate

“In this pioneering study of the poetics of six-word stories, Fishelov offers valuable insights into the birth of a new literary genre and explains the enduring appeal these miniature narratives hold for readers and writers alike.” —Yeshayahu Shen, Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University

The first book-length study, written for students and theorists alike, of the six-word story—a compact form with outsized implications for understanding narrative.

In Six-Word Stories, David Fishelov pushes narrative theory in new directions with the first book on a peculiar minigenre that, despite its diminutive character, is an excellent arena for the study of not only fundamental questions within literary studies (What constitutes a story? What makes one canonical?) but also the dynamic process by which a new literary genre comes into existence. Charting the place of six-word stories among neighboring genres characterized by extreme shortness—microfiction, aphorisms, epigrams, fables, jokes, and even haiku—Fishelov highlights shared elements as well as those that differentiate these short forms. Building on his significant contribution to genre theory, he elaborates on the formal, structural, semantic, and rhetorical characteristics of six-word stories, raising illuminating questions about reader response, narrative mode, and even what the form can tell us about AI’s creative abilities. By examining dozens of six-word stories, including the most famous one (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn,” wrongfully attributed to Hemingway), Fishelov uncovers how this intriguing genre, small in form, can greatly contribute to our understanding of narrative.

David Fishelov is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His areas of interest include genre theory, poetic simile, biblical Samson, and canon formation. He has published extensively in these areas in English and Hebrew, and he is the author of Metaphors of Genre and Dialogues with/and Great Books.

Contents

• List of Tables
• Preface
• Chapter 1 The Birth of a New Genre
• Chapter 2 Six-Word Stories and Their Neighboring Genres
• Chapter 3 Six Major Characteristics of Six-Word Stories
• Chapter 4 The Prototypical and Successful “Hemingway” Story
• Chapter 5 Humor and Parody in Six-Word Stories
• Chapter 6 Examining the Vocabulary of Six-Word Stories
• Concluding Remarks: ChatGPT, Please Write a Six-Word Story
• Acknowledgments
• Works Cited
• General Index
• Index of Six-Word Stories