diary keeper - turned - novelistErnest Hemingwaywas known for his clean , keep back writing mode . Which make it imaginable that he ’s the generator of the most famous six - word scant narrative of all time .
The story go that Hemingway wrote the gut - punch line " For sales agreement , Baby Shoes , Never Worn " to win a stake against his author friends . But there ’s no grounds that such a stakes ever lead place , and it ’s probable that one of the best - know works attributed to Hemingway has nothing to do with the generator at all .
According toOpen Culture , the urban legend countersink Hemingway in a hotel ( commonly the Algonquin , but the location varies ) some time in the 1920s . He was allegedly take in dejeuner with a chemical group of author pal when he count them he could write a fib with a full narrative in just six words . After his friends put their money down , Hemingway jotted down a few words on a serviette and die it around the table . Though brief , the other author could n’t abnegate that " Baby Shoes " was indeed a full story .
Chances are this story actually rise years after Hemingway ’s 1961 death . It first appeared in photographic print in the1991 bookGet Published ! Get get ! : A Literary Agent ’s Tips on How to trade Your Writingby factor Peter Miller . When recounting the anecdote , Miller write that he first take heed the tale from an unnamednewspaper syndicatorin 1974 .
The history spread from there and its original germ only became murkier . A retelling of the taradiddle was included in the one - man biographicalHemingway playPapain 1996 , and then in aReader ’s Digestessay in 1998 . The internet — for which Hemingway ’s punchy , compact style was a perfect fit — got " Baby Shoes " in front of more eyeball than ever .
Though it ’s been cited in article and books numerous times , no one has ever been able to trace the tale back to a first - hand source . As for the true generator of " Baby Shoes " if it is n’t Hemingway , flash fable lover may never have it off his or her identity . It ’s potential that the personal credit line was never meant to be a fictional storey in the first place : tangible ads that bear striking law of similarity to the fabled work predate the myth .
