Lemony Snicket

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Lemony Snicket
Image:Lemonysnicketgrave.PNG
Created by Daniel Handler
Portrayed by Jude Law
Information
Aliases Daniel Handler
Gender Male
Date of birth February 28, 1970 (1970-02-28) (age 38)
Occupation Author
Spouse(s) none
Children none
Relatives Sister Kit Snicket, Brother Jacques Snicket, Niece Beatrice Baudelaire

Lemony Snicket is a pseudonym used by author Daniel Handler in his book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, as well as a character in that series. An autobiography was published, entitled Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography with an introduction from Handler. A pamphlet, 13 Shocking Secrets You'll Wish You Never Knew About Lemony Snicket, was released in promotion of The End.

Handler has also written some other books and short fiction under the Lemony Snicket name, such as the children's book The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming and the upcoming hardcover children's book The Lump of Coal.

Contents

[edit] Name origin

Lemony Snicket in The End.
Lemony Snicket in The End.

The name Lemony Snicket ostensibly came from research for Handler's first book, The Basic Eight. Handler wanted to receive material from organizations he found "offensive or funny", but did not want to use his real name, and invented "Lemony Snicket" as a pseudonym.[1] He would also use the name to write prank letters to newspapers, pretending to be outraged at a trivial news item. When writing A Series of Unfortunate Events, he and his editor decided the books should be published under the narrator's name, rather than his.[1]

[edit] Biography of character

[edit] Life

Like the morelands, Snicket came from a family of three children. His brother Jacques Snicket and sister Kit Snicket were also V.F.D. members and friends of the Baudelaire parents. Both Jacques and Kit appear as supporting characters in the Series of Unfortunate Events books. He also knew Count Olaf in his early life, as the two attended school together.

In his youth, Lemony Snicket attended a V.F.D.-run boarding school with several other characters from the series. He received later tuition at a V.F.D. headquarters in the Mortmain Mountains, and was employed at newspaper The Daily Punctilio after graduating. He was an obituary spell checker and theater critic.

During his early life, after meeting at school, Snicket conducted an ill-fated romance with an actress and V.F.D. member named Beatrice, Lemony and Beatrice were engaged to be married, but Beatrice broke off the engagement for unclear reasons (although the series heavily implies that she believed Lemony to be responsible for crimes committed by Count Olaf) and returned her ring to Lemony, along with a two-hundred page book explaining why the two could not be wed. She eventually married another man, Bertrand, and finally suffered a tragic death in the fire that destroyed the Baudelaires' mansion. Snicket frequently alludes to Beatrice in his narration and dedicates each Series of Unfortunate Events book to her.

Snicket was believed to be dead by the Baudelaire parents, as their book on Olaf-Land states that, following with the tradition of naming children after someone who has died, Violet was to be named Lemony if she was a boy.

Snicket is also known to have been close friends with a woman called "R.", who was the Duchess of Winnipeg.

[edit] Narrator and character

Lemony Snicket is a former theater critic for the fictional The Daily Punctilio, who has charged himself with the task of researching and writing the sad story of the Baudelaire orphans for "many personal and legal reasons". [2] He traces their movements and collects evidence relating to their adventures, but it is possible that he never met Violet, Klaus or Sunny in person, though fans often identify him as a taxi driver who appeared briefly in The Penultimate Peril and in The Wide Window. As the series progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Snicket knew the late Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire well for many years through their connections to V.F.D.. However, as mentioned in The Hostile Hospital and The End, despite all of Lemony's research and hard work, he still does not know the current location, position or status of the Baudelaire children. Lemony was recruited by V.F.D. as a child, according to the Little Snicket Lad song[3]. In The Beatrice Letters, his niece, the daughter of Kit Snicket, who is also named Beatrice, mentions that she believes he is a detective of some sort, a reference to his investigations into the case of the Baudelaire children.

Snicket is frequently disparaging of himself; he has described himself as a coward and at various points in his novels comments that he would not have been as brave as the Baudelaire children had he been in their situation. He also confesses that he has done things that were not noble, most notably the theft of the sugar bowl from Esmé Squalor. He has also implied that he had a part in the murder of the parents of the main antagonist of the series, Count Olaf.

In the narration of the books, Snicket describes doing many unusual things in his free time, including hiding all traces of his actions, locating new hiding places, considering suspicious dishes and researching the perilous lives of the Baudelaire children. He claims to often write himself a thank-you note in an attempt to cheer himself up, but these attempts are always in vain. In The Grim Grotto, Captain Widdershins states that "Jacques's brother", obviously Lemony, was once part of his crew on the Queequeg. He is also implied to have been a member of the crew on one cruise of the ship Prospero.

Snicket's enemies are constantly in pursuit of him and often attempt to very forcefully denounce him. A frequent topic in Snicket's narration is the various traps set by his enemies and the actions he has undertaken to escape them. He is often said to be the victim of a world-wide conspiracy, possibly a reference to his enemies in V.F.D.. This subject is often extended to Snicket's author blurbs and other publisher material not written by Snicket.

[edit] Other work

Daniel Handler has also written or contributed to other works under the Lemony Snicket persona that are not related to A Series of Unfortunate Events. He has stated "there's a chance some other matters may take up Mr. Snicket's attention, that he may research and publish, but I'm always wary of making such promises".[4]

The first of these was a secular Nativity story entitled The Baby in the Manger. Another Christmas story, entitled The Lump of Coal, was published in USA Weekend in 2004.[5] As Snicket, Handler wrote an introduction and endnotes for The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily, his favorite children's book, that referenced A Series of Unfortunate Events. A book of humorous quotes partly drawn from A Series of Unfortunate Events was published as Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid. Another "Christmas" story, The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, was published in October, 2007.[6]

An upcoming book written under the Lemony Snicket name is The Composer is Dead, a murder mystery designed to introduce young readers to the instruments of the orchestra; it was previously produced as an orchestral work by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, with Handler narrating as Snicket, and a recording of the performance is to be included with every copy of the expanded book.[7]

In an interview with the 667 Dark Avenue fansite, Daniel Handler alluded to more Lemony Snicket books focused on the world of A Series of Unfortunate Events. [8]

In all of his A Series Of Unfortunate Events books, he does not have pictures of his actual face and it is rare to really see him in photographs.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b The BEATRICE Interview: 2000
  2. ^ Author Interview with Lemony Snicket from HarperCollins Publishers
  3. ^ http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lemony_Snicket:_The_Unauthorized_Autobiography
  4. ^ CBBC Newsround | UK | Newsround interviews Lemony Snicket
  5. ^ USA WEEKEND Magazine
  6. ^ Amazon.com: The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story: Lemony Snicket,Lisa Brown: Books
  7. ^ HarperCollins Children's Books - Parents Book Buzz
  8. ^ 667 Dark Avenue: Noble Enough - The Insidious Inquiries: 21 Questions, 21 Answers

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Works of Daniel Handler
Novels
Fiction as
Lemony Snicket
Screenplays
Music
v • d • e
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Novels
Other media
Accompanying materials
Characters
Elements
V.F.D.