In brief
Example of literary microlit.
History
Pagination
61-61Start date
2016-01-01End date
2016-01-01Material type
short storyResource type
book chapterISBN-13
9781925052312Language
engNotes
An example of literary microlit contained in the collection Landmarks edited by Cassandra Atherton. Page 61.Research statement
‘In Brief’ was inspired by the often-poignant In Brief columns of newspapers. Generally, flash fiction is discussed in relation to either the short story form or prose poetry, or both. Flash fiction is regarded as either an extremely abbreviated form of the short story or as an instance of prose poetry that exists closest to the prose end of the prose-poetry spectrum, or as a combination of short story and prose poetry. By contrast, ‘In Brief’ explores the relationship between non-fiction journalistic/newspaper writing and flash fiction. The story ‘In Brief’ is a story about an In Brief item in an un-named newspaper ‘that is published every day except Sundays.’ Parts of my flash-fiction piece concern the material aspects of engagement with what might be regarded today as a relatively old-fashioned item: the common newspaper. For example, ‘The item is positioned about as close to the middle of the news-sheet as it is possible to get….’ Conversely, in its status as a newspaper item, the described In Brief column of my flash fiction ‘In Brief’ is nuanced with fictional or short-story-like touches; it is said to contain, for instance, a ‘subheading’ that ‘reads… like a chapter title from a children’s book of mysteries, “The First Ocean.”’ The idea here is to evoke a hybrid mode of flash fiction that is hybrid, not in the conventional way as a fusion of prose and poetry, but as a fusion of non-fictional (specifically journalistic or newspaper writing) and the fictionality of flash fiction (in its short story and/or prose poetry incarnations). The research contribution lies in the form of an original engagement with an already highly fluid form—flash fiction—that seeks to extend its fluidity in new directions through cross-fertilization with a form of non-fiction writing. It was commissioned by Cassandra Atherton for the collection Landmarks: Microfiction and Prose Poems (Spineless Wonders, 2017).Publication classification
J2 Minor original creative workCopyright notice
2017, The AuthorExtent
Short storyPublisher
Spineless WondersPlace of publication
Strawberry Hills, N.S.W.Source
Landmarks : microfiction and prose poemsUsage metrics
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