Dear Children (Good and Bad), You Are Cordially Invited to a Roasting of Instructional Literature

Cobb discusses the often neglected fables that Hemingway wrote in the early 1950s, locating them within the genre of children’s literature. Cobb surveys the history and language and conventions of children’s literature and discusses unexpected ways that Hemingway’s writing might be included. Cobb finds that Hemingway is lampooning the instructional aspect of children’s literature at the same time that he is exploiting its conventions.