facelesscreature
Reptile Researcher
“I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.”
Posts: 48
Likes: 3
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Post by facelesscreature on May 29, 2014 18:13:43 GMT -5
Also, another thing to note about the setting of ATWQ. In TMM on page 100, Lemony suggests that he has a friend named Tatiana who is a sculptor. There are possibly two people Lemony could be referring to.
Tatiana Trouvé: who was born in Italy in 1968. or Tatiana Badanina: who was born in Russia in 1955.
The Russian Tatiana would make more sense with the timeline of ASOUE though.
Also, if TRR suggests that the story isn't in South America, then maybe TMM takes place in a foreign country. After all, page 136 of TMM suggests that Paltryville is a long distance from the city. This would explain why no one can pronounce Sir's last name. Possibly because his name is in a different language?
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Post by Dante on May 30, 2014 2:57:17 GMT -5
Unfortunately, Paltryville adjoins the Finite Forest, which is depicted upon a map in the U.A. as being not far from locations like Uncle Monty's house. Paltryville could be just across the border, or Sir himself could be an immigrant. That's a good idea about his surname.
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Post by Hermes on May 30, 2014 9:04:13 GMT -5
Well, there are indications that some of the documents in TUA may be untrustworthy, so we don't have to accept the map as the last word on the subject. However, there are several places which suggest that Paltryville, though further away than most of the locations in the series, is still quite near the city - it takes part in the adoption programme in TVV, and we also hear that it is quite near Stain'd.
The fact that Paltryville has a constitution, as well as the VFD Rules in TVV, rather suggest that this is a world of city states, so 'another country' may not be well-defined, but it does seem to be part of the same cultural region; the Baudelaires don't have to learn another language to go there.
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Post by bandit on May 30, 2014 13:25:08 GMT -5
You may find it helpful to take a look at this map of the Baudelaires' travels (spoilered because it's really big): Obviously a bit of fan liberation has been taken, but I think it pretty accurately puts all the locations in perspective.
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facelesscreature
Reptile Researcher
“I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.”
Posts: 48
Likes: 3
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Post by facelesscreature on May 30, 2014 14:43:26 GMT -5
Wow! You may be right. But if you assume that all of the locations are close together, then the exact country the Baudelaires live in would have a little bit of everything in it (from a geographical point of view). However, it seems odd why Sir would say that Paltryville is a long distance from the city?
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Post by Hermes on May 30, 2014 15:25:19 GMT -5
It all depends what you mean by a long distance. It seems clear that it is possible to travel to Paltryville within a day, which sets a limit to it. Now, that may still be a couple of hundred miles, which is certainly a long distance by European standards ('In Europe a hundred miles is a long way: in America a hundred years is a long time'). In TVV, by contrast, it's mentioned as one of a number of villages which are just outside the city - presumably there, people are thinking in a more American way.
I think everything in the series happens near the City, in the sense that it's in the area where that is the main city; they never get near any other city. And everything is within a day's journey of the City, except perhaps TSS: that's another day beyond the Carnival (which is itself a possible destination for a day-trip, though not a very convenient one).
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facelesscreature
Reptile Researcher
“I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.”
Posts: 48
Likes: 3
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Post by facelesscreature on May 30, 2014 16:15:29 GMT -5
I was looking through TBB again. The editor's note at the end may suggest that Monty lives in London because Lemony specifically says he is writing from the "London branch." Also, if you look up "Prufrock" on Google Earth, it will pull up a coffee shop in London, located on "Leather Lane." Maybe "Lousy Lane" was inspired by "Leather Lane," which is in London.
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Post by bandit on May 30, 2014 17:39:29 GMT -5
(For clarification, I didn't create the map. It was all done by thedoctororwell some years ago.)
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Post by Dante on May 31, 2014 2:27:19 GMT -5
Prufrock Prep. was almost certainly inspired by the T.S. Eliot poem, "The Long Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." As for Leather Lane, there are probably a great many lanes in the world with alliterative names. Leather Lane sounds like it's in the middle of a city, whereas Lousy Lane is through the countryside, which also seems to be where Uncle Monty lives. Bear in mind that Monty doesn't have to live anywhere near the Herpetological Society, and it also doesn't have to be the London branch that was responsible for the removal of his reptiles.
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facelesscreature
Reptile Researcher
“I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.”
Posts: 48
Likes: 3
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Post by facelesscreature on May 31, 2014 14:53:07 GMT -5
That could be true about Monty's location. I just thought it was cool that a coffee shop called Prufrock was located on Leather Lane in London.
I'm still working on the location. I've found some more hints:
Page 205 of TEE suggests that the Baudelaire mansion is close to a trolley station, a church, and a factory. In the first chapter of TBB, we know that the Baudelaires used a trolley to get to Briny Beach. On page 254 of TEE, it suggests that there is a St. Carl's Cathedral in the city. Since most Cathedrals are Christian churches, it could suggest that the Baudelaires are also Christians. On page 79 of TEE, Jerome may suggest that the city is not in Europe, Asia, or North America. One page 42 of TEE, it is unclear if the story takes place in France. Page 38 of TEE mentions Verne Invention Museum. Could this mean the Jules Verne Museum located in France? Page 39 of TEE mentions the Akhmatova bookstore and Pincus Hospital. Maybe the Akhmatova bookstore is named after the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova? It is unclear if Pincus Hospital is referring to Pincus Fellowship, which is a children's hospital.
More research is still needed. I'll post more information later.
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Post by Dante on May 31, 2014 16:05:06 GMT -5
You'd be well-advised to take some of the references you don't understand to Quidditch.com's guide, which is quite excellent.
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facelesscreature
Reptile Researcher
“I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies.”
Posts: 48
Likes: 3
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Post by facelesscreature on Jun 3, 2014 14:34:56 GMT -5
Quidditch.com has been very helpful. Thanks.
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