Literary Minimalism Anthology

Nearly Everything You Need to Know About Literary Minimalism

(written by recovering maximalist, Gabby Rammel)

Donald Judd’s 100 Untitled Works in Mill Aluminum. Although, resentful of the term “minimalism” as a genre for any of his works, Judd’s use of simple and repeated forms to explore space earned him the honor of being one of America’s most highly esteemed minimalist artists.

 

“Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is past.” —Ernest Hemingway

 

 

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 Less is More: Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory

Hemingway coined the Iceberg Theory, or Theory of Omission, to demonstrate the importance of subtext. By using this theory, a written work is not limited to the words on the page, but relies on the subtext and readers’ inferences to follow along with what the writer is trying to portray.

Like an iceberg, the bulk of the story must exist under the surface. In this, underlying themes are not explicitly dwelt upon by the writer, which forces the reader to put the story together in order to get to its meaning.

“For sale: Baby shoes, Never worn.”

Within these six words that read more like a newspaper headline than a story,  a writer (allegedly Hemingway) creates the framework of a tragedy. Because of the sparsity of language, readers are encouraged to fill in the missing information with plausible scenarios in which an expected baby does not get the opportunity to wear the new shoes. In this way, minimalism forces the readers to interpret and draw their own conclusions. This kind of text and reader engagement creates writing that is intimate.

 

Donald Judd’s 100 Untitled Works in Mill Aluminum. The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas, USA, 1982-1986.

 

 

 

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7 Lit Minimalists

 

“Also minimalism is a term that all of us who share so little in common and who are lumped together as minimalists are not terribly happy with.” —Ann Beattie

 

***Disclaimer***  While all of the works in this anthology are in accordance with Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory, many of the writers themselves do not identify as minimalist writers. The following short stories, poem and play all use economy of language, forcing their readers to look underneath the surface in order to get to the story’s core.