Post by Dante on Jul 18, 2009 11:12:58 GMT -5
There's not much point in me adding to Hermes's responses, so I'll stack my new thoughts on top of his.
There's one letter - BB to LS #5 - which shows that Beatrice #2 has read aSoUE. Either Lemony wrote the whole series in-between that letter and her first one, or he wrote the whole series beforehand and that's why Beatrice #2 came to see him. I think the latter makes rather more sense, although it's been a while since I read TBL.
I never understood why people had difficulty with this? The punch-out letters are just magnified versions of the alphabet letters hidden in each piece of correspondence. Figures, maps, giant letters, small initials - they all match up, especially when you bear in mind that Handler wouldn't have written the text with giant punch-out pieces of card. The card versions were added probably so that readers had a tactile medium in which to work out anagrams - could literally rearrange the letters in physical space.
Various promotional media and I think a slight hint in TBL itself suggest that there should be two messages, but a meaningful one besides "BEATRICE SANK" has never been settled upon. "CASKET IN BRAE" is literally true in the sense that Kit and Olaf are buried on the island, but I'm not sure we get much from that. My official attitude is one of skepticism. This is a series which marks out every single instance of Sebald Code for us. If there are mysteries left, then - well, then Handler never told the publishers about them.
Hm, a bit dubious, myself.
R.'s identity isn't a secret. Her identity just isn't relevant. In the actual setting of aSoUE, it can't be hard to find out the name of a public figure like the Duchess of Winnipeg. That she's usually labelled by an initial is just how V.F.D. does things - how Daniel Handler does things.
Also the solution I favour. The only thing that unsettles me a little is Lemony's suspicions about the co-star, but, to put it bluntly, Beatrice ended up marrying Bertrand when Lemony let her down. When did that spark of attraction first strike - how long did Lemony fear it for? In the play, the co-star represents Lemony (from a "readership of aSoUE" viewpoint, not an in-universe one), so a romantic entanglement is suggested.
I would say that thematically it's likely to be the Baudelaire mansion. More on this in Week 12.5, I guess!
Edit: Oh, and as regards the misprints, that theory's always been mad. Of the "official" misprints, one is plot-relevant, and another is clearly for humour. Of the others - Denoument and Independant - I think that they probably crept in during the production process, which would not have involved mere copy-pasting of Handler's proof-read text but a more heavy-duty transfer.
Ooh, now that does open a can of worms. There's some evidence in the books that Lemony is writing while the events are still going on. I personally think there's much more evidence that he's writing long after, in which case it makes sense that his research is going on at the same time Beatrice is writing to him. But the idea that she started his research is a new one, I think. Doesn't she say something like 'rumours of your research have reached me', though?
There's one letter - BB to LS #5 - which shows that Beatrice #2 has read aSoUE. Either Lemony wrote the whole series in-between that letter and her first one, or he wrote the whole series beforehand and that's why Beatrice #2 came to see him. I think the latter makes rather more sense, although it's been a while since I read TBL.
The figures, though, if you combine them with letters written in the margins and so on, turn out to spell out the same message as is found in the pictures - BEATRICE SANK, and whatever its anagram is.
I never understood why people had difficulty with this? The punch-out letters are just magnified versions of the alphabet letters hidden in each piece of correspondence. Figures, maps, giant letters, small initials - they all match up, especially when you bear in mind that Handler wouldn't have written the text with giant punch-out pieces of card. The card versions were added probably so that readers had a tactile medium in which to work out anagrams - could literally rearrange the letters in physical space.
I agree there must be a second message, and that it should have something to do with a brae. I rather like CASKET IN BRAE (not originally my idea, but I'm not sure where it comes from). (But a casket doesn't have to mean a coffin - it can just mean a sealed box. It could refer to the box in which Lemony keeps his secrets.)
Various promotional media and I think a slight hint in TBL itself suggest that there should be two messages, but a meaningful one besides "BEATRICE SANK" has never been settled upon. "CASKET IN BRAE" is literally true in the sense that Kit and Olaf are buried on the island, but I'm not sure we get much from that. My official attitude is one of skepticism. This is a series which marks out every single instance of Sebald Code for us. If there are mysteries left, then - well, then Handler never told the publishers about them.
I agree that brae-man should be an anagram - the answers in LS to BB #5 strongly suggest that.
Hm, a bit dubious, myself.
Well, we know a lot about her, just not her first name. She would probably have normally been known as 'the Duchess'. I doubt anything much turns on this - it's just part of the 'you don't know everything' theme.
R.'s identity isn't a secret. Her identity just isn't relevant. In the actual setting of aSoUE, it can't be hard to find out the name of a public figure like the Duchess of Winnipeg. That she's usually labelled by an initial is just how V.F.D. does things - how Daniel Handler does things.
The simplest solution, though, is that it's the man she did in the end marry, Bertrand Baudelaire.
Also the solution I favour. The only thing that unsettles me a little is Lemony's suspicions about the co-star, but, to put it bluntly, Beatrice ended up marrying Bertrand when Lemony let her down. When did that spark of attraction first strike - how long did Lemony fear it for? In the play, the co-star represents Lemony (from a "readership of aSoUE" viewpoint, not an in-universe one), so a romantic entanglement is suggested.
The burnt plot that Beatrice could see from his window? Quite possibly, but a lot of other buildings have been burnt as well.
I would say that thematically it's likely to be the Baudelaire mansion. More on this in Week 12.5, I guess!
Edit: Oh, and as regards the misprints, that theory's always been mad. Of the "official" misprints, one is plot-relevant, and another is clearly for humour. Of the others - Denoument and Independant - I think that they probably crept in during the production process, which would not have involved mere copy-pasting of Handler's proof-read text but a more heavy-duty transfer.