Poetry or fiction?

Is it poetry or is it fiction?

That's a question some readers of literary magazines and journals may be asking themselves about the new forms of narrative writing that incorporate elements of both prose poetry and short (or "flash") fiction.  The distinction is increasingly one without a difference, especially among those writers who intentionally resist such categorization.

Both the prose poem and "flash fiction" (which is also sometimes referred to as "sudden fiction" or the "short, short story") are established literary forms with long, if somewhat disputed histories.  The prose poem generally credited as originating in 19th century France, notably in the works of Charles Baudelaire, Stephane Mallarme, and Arthur Rimbaud, all of whom rejected the constraints the alexandrine (or twelve syllable metrical line) imposed on early modern French verse forms.

Flash fiction is probably as old as storytelling itself and shares its ancestry with the fable, the parable, and folk tale.  Advocates of the most concise examples of the form often cite Ernest Hemingway's six-word story (reputedly composed to win a bar bet): "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

It is only recently, though, that the two forms have begun to converge aesthetically.  Perhaps the most extensive examination of this phenomenon in print is PP/FF: An Anthology published in 2006 by Buffalo novelist and independent publisher Ted Pelton's Starcherone Books.  The anthology is edited by Peter Conners, the Rochester based writer/editor best known for his work with BOA Editions Ltd. and features 75 examples of this emergent form by 61 of today's most innovative poets and fiction writers.

In his introduction to the anthology, Conners points out that some of the work in the volume does not fit neatly into either category.  "As a reader, writer, and editor, it is my opinion that this 'neither' type of writing is so contemporarily important as to define a zeitgeist," he asserts.   

"For more information, or to order a copy of PP/FF: An Anthology, visit Starcherone Books | The Art Of Fiction.

Comments

[Ted Pelton]

I'm the publisher of this anthology, and it would be great if you could buy it, as the only way small presses like ours can stay alive is when people shell out the $20 now and again.

That said, it's an interesting form, or non-form. Here's a piece of mine that happens to be on the net. I think it qualifies. But there's a LOT of other possibilities --
http://www.rockheals.com/archives/2006/05/herman_melville.html

-- and this anthology is much more wide in scope than recent "Flash Fiction" books...

[s. m. hutton]

Here's the URL address for a recent submission from a local writer in the Art Voice. Another suggestion is to go to Talking Leaves or a ubiquitous Barnes and Noble and ask for any Flash Fiction books they may have a take advantage to the available chairs to leaf through the books. If you go to Talking Leaves, seriously consider buying something else there, if not interested in Flash Fiction.

http://artvoice.com/issues/v6n29/flash_fiction

[Didi]

I don't know anything about this type of writing. Could you give another example without my having to spend money on an anthology?