abstract:Six-word stories present an intriguing case study to theorists of literary genres and narratologists alike. Despite the popularity of this peculiar narrative form—probably the latest newcomer to the club of narrative genres—and the fact that it has produced many captivating texts, there is almost no critical discussion of this fast-growing literary phenomenon. After explaining why six-word stories deserve the title of a narrative genre, I offer a brief comparative discussion of such stories alongside traditional short literary forms like aphorisms and proverbs. I then discuss seven important characteristics of six-word stories. The first three comprise the "hard core" of the poetics of the genre, the next two are very common among six-word stories but are not an essential part of its poetics, and the last two are related to the reception and production of the genre: (1) A represented chain of events (the narrative element); (2) The tip of the iceberg principle; (3) The punch-line structure; (4) Poetic, rhythmic structures; (5) The realism of the stories; (6) The "contagiousness" of the form; and (7) The strong connection of the genre to English, the language in which it was first introduced. I conclude by pointing out that while many six-word stories illustrate witty, artistic achievements, there is also the risk that practitioners of the form will mechanically produce dull texts.

中文翻译：

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六字故事的诗学

摘要：六个字的故事为文学体裁理论家和叙事学家提供了一个有趣的案例研究。尽管这种奇特的叙事形式很受欢迎——可能是叙事体裁俱乐部的最新成员——并且它产生了许多引人入胜的文本，但几乎没有对这种快速增长的文学现象进行批判性讨论。在解释了为什么六字故事应该被称为叙事体裁之后，我对此类故事与格言和谚语等传统短篇文学形式进行了简短的比较讨论。然后我将讨论六字故事的七个重要特征。前三个构成了该体裁诗学的“硬核”，后两个在六字故事中很常见，但不是其诗学的重要组成部分，最后两个与体裁的接受和生产有关：（1）一个被代表的事件链（叙事元素）；(2)冰山一角原理；(3) 点睛之笔结构；(4) 诗意的、有节奏的结构；(5)故事的真实性；(6)形式的“传染性”；(7) 该类型与英语的紧密联系，英语是它最初被引入的语言。最后我指出，虽然许多六字故事展示了诙谐的艺术成就，但也存在这种形式的实践者会机械地产生沉闷文本的风险。