In this you-gotta-have-a-gimmick world to stand out, hedge funds are finding ways to show investors they want to be taken literally. The Wall Street Journal reports that many a HF, in an effort to capture the attention of their investors, have concocted missives with literary devices such as poems and novel approaches that recall, well, popular novels. One of the HF literati, notes The WSJ, is Michael Roth of the Milwaukee hedge fund Stark Investments, who at one time wrote an investment letter that was a takeoff of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven and at another, an 18-page Dr. Seussy confection called "Slammed I Am." Another member of the literary HF circle includes Paul Reiferson of New York's Americus Capital Management, who, like many others has used a Moby Dick theme, to give investors the feeling they are like Captain Ahab "maniacally pursuing their goals."

So whom do hedge funds look up to for inspiration? According to The WSJ, it's none other than Warren Buffett, who for years has entertained investors with his letters, which have become a tradable commodity on eBay. And where did Buffett get his inspiration? He says from J. Fred Boyd, a muskrat farmer turned oil magnate, whose letters Buffett keeps around for their thoroughness and amusing qualities.

Roth told The WSJ that the goal of his letters is to help investors understand his strategies in an entertaining way. "There's steak with the sizzle," he says, noting, however, "I'm not paid to be a comedian."