tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post3687717874478482500..comments2024-03-19T09:19:45.353+00:00Comments on Dan's Adventures in Fiction: Not the Best Short Story Ever WrittenDan Purduehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01633271913854946500noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-89558158756045208402013-10-25T15:38:57.358+01:002013-10-25T15:38:57.358+01:00Simple explanation - too many pairs of shoes. (And...Simple explanation - too many pairs of shoes. (And a very small debt to the local crime lord that has to be paid off.)DThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803989273524731892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-6150968125609859162013-07-26T09:50:07.833+01:002013-07-26T09:50:07.833+01:00Interesting comments, everyone. Many thanks for yo...Interesting comments, everyone. Many thanks for your contributions (particularly Ric's sausage story).<br /><br />This is what I think is so interesting about Baby Shoes - it seems to be accepted as a story, but only by those willing to construct a story of their own around it. For me, that's like a stand-up comic coming onto the stage and saying, "A funny thing happened to me on the way to the gig tonight," and then waiting for the audience to make up their own jokes and burst out laughing.<br /><br />I guess there are going to be as many interpretations as there are readers. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. And, as Rachel says, there are going to be people out there who want it to be a tragic story about a lost baby, and no amount of me saying that doesn't really make sense and there are hundreds of other, equally (if not more) likely, explanations will ever change their minds.<br /><br />It's an interesting question, in terms of how much work the reader can be left to do without ownership of the story transferring entirely to them. Stories without any room for doubts or interpretation are deathly dull, but when you have to decide for yourself what happened and why and who was affected, it's the other end of the scale and is perhaps not boring, but ultimately pointless. Reading should always be a collaborative act, but both sides have to do their bit.<br /><br />Jonathan Pinnock's latest published story is interesting in terms of telling <i>a</i> story, without telling <i>the</i> story. You can read it here: http://www.staxtes.com/2013/07/jonathan-pinnock-room-31.html<br /><br />I didn't really expect to find any sort of answer to the Hemingway question, and I definitely didn't expect to change anybody's mind one way or the other. But after having been told this is a slice of genius for so many years, it's good to find out I'm not the only person yet to be convinced.Dan Purduehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01633271913854946500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-5151995459876280132013-07-26T08:45:19.729+01:002013-07-26T08:45:19.729+01:00Lacuna – the spaces. Yes, v important in stories. ...Lacuna – the spaces. Yes, v important in stories. And sub-text, too. Yes, I get that. But when it is pared back to just these six words, then the spaces are too big and the story is anything at all, and what a reader brings to it is more than the writer put there (which is ok too) except that the reader in this case puts everything there. Surely a good story is more than just the spaces.<br /><br />This has the feel of an academic exercise written by a fan of Hemingway rather than Hemingway himself. ‘How far can you cut away narrative and still have a story?’ – notice I said ‘have’ and not ‘tell’. How big can you make the spaces and how sparse the bits between the spaces and still suggest story?<br /><br />I get that there can be many reading of the same story and each reading will depend on what you as a reader bring to a piece. I get that poetry works by resonance and doesn’t require the same specifics as narrative and that this could be an experimental prose-poetry piece. I get that if you want this to have told a story it doess. But I can’t help feeling that it is a bit like me as a child waking up and staring at the sun on my curtains and roses on the fabric and I could see faces in the pattern… but they were roses. <br /><br />At the very least, if you are going to say that there is story here, it is (as has been pointed out) many stories and as such it is a neat party trick but a poorly told tale in that it does not tell a story but prompts the reader to construct a story of their own or myriad stories of their own.<br />Anonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09293102811299494915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-8808861663763105542013-07-26T01:59:05.596+01:002013-07-26T01:59:05.596+01:00It IS a story - the lacuna is as big and important...It IS a story - the lacuna is as big and important device in story writing as the words that are there, more important, I'd say - and all of Hemingway's stories demonstrate this - even the long ones - the real story is the one he isn't telling us. And he wrote how deliberately he cut out the story from the narrative so that the power always resided in the sub text. <br /><br />With regards to this story in particular, I do think it has more resonance for people who have wanted and or lost a baby. There are stories and poems I can think of that meant nothing to me once upon a time then floored me in more recent re-readings. <br /><br />But you you revealed a curious thing in your deconstruction - Baby Shoes isn't a good story - it's many.Rachel Fentonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10046917627054462214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-59247376479023619332013-07-25T22:26:49.581+01:002013-07-25T22:26:49.581+01:00"Played hide the sausage. Lost sausage."..."Played hide the sausage. Lost sausage."<br /><br />But yes, this bugs me every time I read something claiming this story is genius so I'm glad you've called Hemingway (or whoever actually wrote it) out on this. <br /><br />Though I'm not sure I agree with:<br /><br /><i>And I'm not saying I don't like it. I'd just like people to stop calling it a story!</i><br /><br />I think it scrapes by as a story, but not a good one. It might impress for a moment, the first time you read it, but nothing after that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-77660378040990764422013-07-25T20:58:29.652+01:002013-07-25T20:58:29.652+01:00We have a baby and he was given some shoes, and he...We have a baby and he was given some shoes, and he outgrew them before he had started walking, ergo, we had baby shoes never worn. We did not sell them on e bay though. We took them to a charity shop. This is all just in support of your argument.Leilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02890097085059764567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-9571694923210936112013-07-25T14:48:23.690+01:002013-07-25T14:48:23.690+01:00Thanks, Dee.
Cheers, Lindsay - thinking up those ...Thanks, Dee.<br /><br />Cheers, Lindsay - thinking up those alternative takes was good fun.<br /><br />Patsy - That's a good question. I don't have a suggestion, I'm sorry to say. Some might call it flash fiction, but I think flash is generally supposed to tell a story, even if it is only slight or just hinted at. So I don't know what to call it. Maybe somebody will come along with a suitable suggestion.<br /><br />And I'm not saying I don't like it. I'd just like people to stop calling it a story!Dan Purduehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01633271913854946500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-46475163331627248542013-07-25T09:50:57.748+01:002013-07-25T09:50:57.748+01:00Whoever wrote it has used the six words well, I th...Whoever wrote it has used the six words well, I think. Like all pieces of writing some will like it more than others. I like it.<br /><br />What would you call it if not a story? Patsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12263765378083045973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-77106898332409503702013-07-25T09:22:58.077+01:002013-07-25T09:22:58.077+01:00I enjoyed reading your takes on this far more than...I enjoyed reading your takes on this far more than the original 6 words! I also love it when someone bucks the trend of saying how wonderful Hemingway's writing is! Some of it is dire.Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04631254646368974136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-91069281995394558812013-07-25T09:06:10.110+01:002013-07-25T09:06:10.110+01:00Its not a story, no. But it would work as a blurb ...Its not a story, no. But it would work as a blurb :)<br /><br />Some of your 'comncal' reasons made me giggle :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12346039017932813906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-88219415386100338982013-07-25T07:45:05.963+01:002013-07-25T07:45:05.963+01:00Would that be 'Hard Times', or 'Great ...Would that be 'Hard Times', or 'Great Expectations', Perry?<br /><br />The shoes might have been an "inappropriate" colour, if the parents hadn't known the sex of the baby and had hedged their bets by buying pink and blue. The list goes on.<br /><br />"Wedding dress" works fairly well - I suppose it's slightly more specific, but it still doesn't quite make it a story by my reckoning.Dan Purduehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01633271913854946500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942294427695379658.post-689050002270909712013-07-25T00:08:35.833+01:002013-07-25T00:08:35.833+01:00Or the shoes were too small. I've seen 'we...Or the shoes were too small. I've seen 'wedding dress' used instead of 'baby shoes'.<br /><br />You're right, it's not a story. If it is, I'll publish a shopping list. Maybe my bank statement, too. Now that would be a story worthy of Dickens.Perryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02427952228859939998noreply@blogger.com