"And the book, though there was even less of him, was happy"

Today I'm covering a slightly dated issue of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, number 28. It's pretty interesting, as you can see from the picture. This issue has a grand total of eight stories, each one in their own personal hardcover book, with four stories making up a striking painting. Aesthetics aside, the stories themselves offer many an eyebrow-raising experience. The theme of this issue was to reinvent the fable, a seemingly simple goal. However, like many McSweeney's stories, meanings can get lost in obscurity and ambiguous endings. This issue is no different.
That isn't to say you're going to throw down each of those tiny books screaming "eff this shiz!" Though, you'll probably be ending each book saying "huh?" Fables aim to tell some sort of simple story, be it about a spiteful fox or a clever spider. And in the end, we all learn a valuable lesson. McSweeney's fables begin in that same vein, with a allegorical narrative forming what looks to be a clear moral ending.
It doesn't happen! Or at least, not in the way you'd expect. Let's take one of the stories as an example. "The Guy Who Kept Meeting Himself" by Ryan Boudinot is the tale of a man who, unsurprisingly, keeps meeting himself. Visited by future incarnations of himself, Peter asks himself how he can improve his life, most significantly financially. He soon realizes knowing the future isn't all that it's cracked up to be. In the end, he fails to completely understand why it's bad to know the future, or at least why it's bad to know the future according to rational general consensus.
My take on this issue? I enjoyed it for the most part, barring one or two confusing stories. What I enjoyed most about these tales was how easily I could read them out loud, much like a classic fable. Check it out!