|  Author | Topic: Bad Beginning RE Notes - Submitted by PJ (Read 1,821 times) |
Peter Klaven
King of Dark Avenue
member is offline
![[avatar]](http://static.reelmovienews.com/images/gallery/peter-klaven-pic.png)
Pistol
Joined: Jun 2002
Gender: Male 
Posts: 9,514
Location: Maryland or Cambridge
Karma: 119 |  | Bad Beginning RE Notes - Submitted by PJ
« Thread Started on Jan 24, 2005, 4:06am » | |
Here are, for your convenience, the notes at the back of The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition. It took ages, so don’t not use them.
Regards,
PJ
Author’s Notes
It has been some time since I have written The Bad Beginning, and as far as I know the story has not changed one iota, a word which here means “tiny detail, which may or may not be significant, a word which here means ‘important to the story.’” In the years since the book’s publication, many people who have read the book have besieged me with questions concerning the iotas of the story, exactly how I came to know these iotas, and if I cared to add anything to my report. My reply to these questions is always the same. “Look behind you,” I say, and then I leap out of the window and slide down the drainpipe of the hotel, art gallery, or interrogation room in which I have been staying. Sometimes there is a car waiting for me. Other times it is someone in the car who is waiting.
Now that the car has run out of fuel, however, and the tires have been exchanged for an outboard motor and a hunk of Gruyère cheese, I have a few moments to add the following notes to iotas within the text of The Bad Beginning, reprinted here in the feeble hope that these police inspectors, art dealers and chambermaids will leave me alone.
p.2 The three Baudelaire children lived with their parents in an enormous mansion at the heart of a dirty and busy city, and occasionally their parents gave them permission to take a rickety trolley-the word “rickety”, you probably know, here means “unsteady” or “likely to collapse”-alone to the seashore…
On that particular occasion, the Baudelaire parents not only gave their children permission but encouraged them to leave the house, as the adults had some pressing business to atten to. This business was delayed indefinitely due to death. Also note that the trolley has since collapsed, and its remains were recycled into the foundation of a hotel.
p.5 She felt the slender, smooth stone in her left hand, which she had been about to try to skip as far as she could. She had a sudden thought to throw it at the figure, because it seemed to frightening.
Please see my note on page 7.
p.6 One of the things Violet, Klaus, and Sunny really liked about their parents was that they didn’t send their children away when they had company over, but allowed them to join the adults at the dinner table…
The Baudelaire table was not used exclusively for dinner. Its surface was handy for unrolling maps, completing jigsaw puzzles, and tracing the faces of people from photographs. One thing I remember from my time at the table was that it was always necessary to use a coaster underneath one’s beverage so as to not leave an unsightly ring on the wood.
p.6 Mr. Poe took off his top hat…
The height of a top hat provides a good-sized hollow space over the head of the wearer, which can be used as a hiding place. If one is using a top hat for such purposes, it is important to remember that one must remove it very carefully.
Also, an earlier draft of The Bad Beginning uses this phrase instead: Mr. Poe took off his top hat carefully.
p.7 Violet, with some embarrassment, felt the stone in her left hand and was glad she
had not thrown it at Mr. Poe.
Please see my note to pages 9-10
p.8 “The fire department arrived, of course,” Mr. Poe said…
This was an official fire department, which despite hundreds of years of existence has not managed to stamp out fire completely. Just recently I was forced to stamp out a fire completely, when I became so immersed in reading a philosophical work entitled Nobody’s Family is going to Change that I completely forgot about some Gruyère cheese fondue I was reheating.
Also, I have reason to believe that the O that appears on the official fire department insignia stands instead for a person’s name.
pp.9-10 …Violet had to drop the stone she was holding.
Dropping a stone you had been thinking about throwing at someone might mean that you believe violence to be an immoral and ineffective way of solving problems, which instead increases the amount of strife, turmoil, and bruises in the world, which in turn only encourages other people to pick up stones.
Tomorrow afternoon I am interviewing a semi-retired amateur geologist to see if this dropped stone is the same as the one Violet picks up at her second visit to Briny Beach.
p.12 Violet’s microscope had fused together in the heat of the fire…
Please see my note to page 25.
pp.12-13 Here and there, the children could see traces of the home they had loved: fragments of their grand piano, an elegant bottle in which Mr. Baudelaire had kept brandy, the scorched cushion of the windowseat where their mother liked to sit and read.
Curiously enough, Mr. Baudelaire’s brandy bottle was found on the remains of the dining table, with no coasters nearby. This would indicate that either the coasters were burned beyond recognition, or the Baudelaires had received a visitor who had no manners whatsoever.
p.14 …a well-respected member of the banking community.
For more information on respected members of the monetary community, interested parties might turn to my studies of Esmé Squalor, the city’s sixth most important financial advisor.
p.18 They passed horse-drawn carriages and motorcycles along Doldrum Drive.
For more information on the Doldrums, interested parties might turn to chapter 2 of Norton Juster’s alleged allegory The Phantom Tollbooth.
p.18 They passed the Fickle Fountain…
Please see my note to page 62.
P.18 They passed an enormous pile of dirt where the Royal Gardens once stood.
For more information on the destruction of the Royal Gardens, interested parties might turn to the following articles in The Daily Punctilio, the city’s newspaper: “Arson suspected in Destruction of Royal Gardens,” by Jacques Snicket, and “Absolutely No Arson or Any Other Suspicious Thing Associated with the Royal Gardens, which Simply Burned to the Ground and Then Were Covered in Dirt Due to Wind, Says Official Fire Department,” by Geraldine Julienne.
Incidentally, the Royal Gardens had several ornate wooden benches ideal for sitting and reading, or for contemplating the more exotic plants contained in the Poisonous Pavilion. All of these benches where lost in the destruction except one, which has since been moved to the lobby of a hotel. It is easily recognizable due to a small unsightly ring, left by someone who did not use a coaster underneath his or her beverage.
|
![[image]](http://bannerbreak.com/banners/8/805/122494826521869505.gif)
You wouldn't believe me, even if I told you.
|
|
Peter Klaven
King of Dark Avenue
member is offline
Pistol
Joined: Jun 2002
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,514
Location: Maryland or Cambridge
Karma: 119 | | Re: Bad Beginning RE Notes
« Reply #1 on Jan 24, 2005, 4:07am » | |
Part II
p.23 …the stuffed head of a lion, which was nailed to the wall.
For more information about the abuse of lions, interested parties might turn to Book the Ninth. Professional lions are often named after their trainers, but I have been unable to determine if the lion on Count Olaf’s wall was Beatrice or Bertrand.
p.23 …to the small bowl of apple cores…
Please see my note to page 25
p.25 They wondered how many other eyes were in Count Olaf’s house, and whether, for the rest of their lives, they would always feel as though Count Olaf were watching them even when he wasn’t nearby.
Access to Count Olaf’s house has proven nearly impossible, so I have been unable to count the number of eyes it contains, and naturally that number of eyes would change depending on how many people, animals or potatoes were in the house at the given time. This is particularly troublesome when one thinks of the number of flies that a bowl of apple cores would attract.
Also, my sister has proposed that some of these eyes hid secret peepholes, cameras, or microscopic lenses, as in the Baudelaire home.
p.29 …cardboard box that once held a refrigerator.
I have not been able to find this refrigerator, to my great dismay. Interested parties would be advised to contact me through my publishers if they see a refrigerator at any time.
p.35 “I can tell you it concerns a poisonous plant and illegal use of someone’s credit card.”
Despite Geraldine Julienne’s article in The Daily Punctilio “No Poisonous Plants Were Removed from Royal Gardens Prior to Destruction, Official Fire Department Reports.” I have reason to believe that the poisonous plant Justice Strauss referred to was removed from the Royal Gardens prior to its destruction.
pp.41-42 From a street vendor, they purchased olives after tasting several varieties and choosing their favorites.
My commonplace book contains following interview:
LS: On the day in question, did three children-a fourteen-year-old girl, a boy a bit older than twelve who was wearing glasses, and a young baby with somewhat peculiar teeth-purchase from you some olives, after tasting several varieties and choosing their favorites?
Vendor: Yes.
p.55 …if anyone had looked into the Baudelaire orphans’ bedroom…
Two people did, of course.
p.62 …the Fountain of Victorious Finance…
Readers of Book the Seventh will remember that fountains are like top hats in that they provide hollow spaces in which things can be hidden (please see my note to page 6), and I imagine the damp surroundings of a fountain’s innards would be comforting if the person hiding inside had recently survived a fire.
p.74 There are many words for people like that…
Scoundrel, rake, jerk, ruffian, monster, cad, villain, knave, bad guy, Nero, evildoer, rogue, rascal, heavy, Sir, transgressor, profligate, libertine, tyrant, Olaf, despot, sinner, incendiary, arsonist, savage, brute, barbarian, hellion, desperado, bully, rough, hooligan, Esmé, miscreant, scalawag, troublemaker, scamp, felon, ne’er-do-well, hood, Gorgon, ogre (or ogress), ghoul, culprit, offender, malefactor, recidivist, rat, conspirator, Quisling, emotional vandal, someone with serious emotional problems, etc.
p.77 Behind him, one of the eyes painted on the kitchen walls closely watched over each of the Baudelaire children.
Please see my note to page 25.
p.98 But Count Olaf just sat there as calmly as if they were discussing the weather.
Certain kinds of weather-severe rainstorms, for instance-have a dampening effect on fires, which is displeasing to arsonists. There have been reports of alleged arsonists so reportedly displeased with the weather that they have been rumored to pound their beverages on an unprotected wooden table.
p.104 The pile of logs…was still lying there untouched, as if Count Olaf had merely made them chop logs for his own amusement, rather than for any purpose.
The purpose for these longs was not discovered for quite some time, when I interviewed the former students at Prufrock Preparatory School concerning their orphaned classmates.
Please see also my note to page 18
pp.116-117 A group of female Finnish pirates invented it back in the fifteenth century…
Tomorrow afternoon, the semiretired amateur geologist has promised to put me in touch with current members of the F.F.P. so I can determine if there is any truth to the rumour that Violet Baudelaire came into contact with them on her way to Briny Beach for the third time. Interested parties might turn to Book the Thirteenth, assuming I live to write such a book.
p.124 In my room, for instance, I have gathered a collection of objects that are important to me, including a dusty accordion on which I can play a few sad songs, a large bundle of notes on the activities of the Baudelaire orphans, and a blurry photograph, taken a very long time ago, of a woman whose name is Beatrice. These are items that are very precious and dear to me.
The songs include the following:
“Dreary, Dreary”
“The Butcher Boy”
“Vide le Cercueil, Vide Mon Cœur”
“Place Daturas on My Grave”
“La Belle Dame Sans Merci”
“Dry Bones”
“Bizarre Love Triangle”
“Dans des Terrains Cendreux”
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”
“Lately I’ve Become Even More Lonely, So I’m Crying Harder Than Usual” (unfinished)
p.134 The two white-faced women were arranging flowers in a vase that from away appeared to be marble, but close up looked more like cardboard.
The Victorian art of flower arranging is a coded system in which each flower in an arrangement conveys a certain message. Below are some flowers and their Victorian symbolism:
Aster: Cheerfulness in old age
Chrystantemum: truthful Datura: “I dream of thee”
Peppermint: cordialty, warmth of feeling
Fennel: worthy of praise
Nasturtium: heroism, patriotism
None of these are flowers believed to have been used that evening.
Please see also my notes to pages 6, 18 and 62
p.142 No one seemed to notice that he held a walkie-talkie the entire time.
My commonplace book contains the following interview:
LS: On the night in question, during the performance of Funcoot’s play The Marvellous Marriage, did you notice that Count Olaf, the production’s start, was holding a walkie-talkie the entire time?
Audience member: No.
LS: How about you?
Another audience member: No.
LS: You?
Another audience member: No.
LS: You?
Another audience member: No.
etc.
p.146 “But Violet is only a child!” one of the actors said. “She’s not old enough to marry.”
My commonplace book contains the following interview:
LS: On the night in question, did you say, “But Violet is only a child!” one of the actors said. “She’s not old enough to marry.”
Actor: I think so.
p.153 A certain island has a law that forbids anyone from removing its fruit.
Please see my not to pages 116-117.
P.157 In the darkness, Violet looked like a ghost, her quite wedding gown moving slowly across the stage.
My commonplace book contains at least seventeen interviews with people who remarked that due to the facial resemblance, the white dress, and the dim lighting, Violet Baudelaire looked quite a bit like a woman who is no longer alive.
Please see also my note to page 124.
p.162 …just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t so.
L A B É A T R I C E
Dans des terrains cendreux, calcinés, sans verdure,
Comme je me plagnais un jour à la nature,
Et que de ma pensée, en vaguant au hazard,
J’aiguisais lentement sur mon cœur poignard,
Je vis en plein midi descender sur ma tête
Un nuage funèbre et gros d’une tempête,
Qui portait un troupeau de démons vicieux,
Semblables à des nains cruels et curieux…
-C. Baudelaire
|
You wouldn't believe me, even if I told you.
|
| |
|
![[Home]](http://tinypic.com/iwhp3b.jpg)
![[Help]](http://tinypic.com/iwhphi.jpg)
![[Search]](http://i12.tinypic.com/8ghdpwl.jpg)
![[Login]](http://tinypic.com/iwhpgp.jpg)
![[Register]](http://tinypic.com/iwhpmr.jpg)
![[Live Chat]](http://i50.tinypic.com/ih6pt2.jpg)
![[Search This Thread]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/search2.gif)
![[Send Topic To Friend]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/sendtopic.gif)
![[Print]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/print.gif)
Logged