daftbrain
Catastrophic Captain
Don't read this.
Posts: 76
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Post by daftbrain on Dec 13, 2004 23:55:48 GMT -5
In the Austere Academy, Lemony says "Prufrock Preparatory School is now closed. It has been closed for many years, ever since Mrs. Bass was arrested for bank robbery, and if you were to visit it now, you would find it an empty and silent place."
So I assume that means Lemony is writing the series of unfortunate events many years after the actual events occured. But I just read the Unauthorised Autobiography today and in it there was a letter by Vice Principal Nero to Mr and Mrs Spats (pg 129) which contained a list of books that Ms K (who was the replacement for Mrs Bass, Nero says Mrs Bass is always taking a day off to attend to business at the bank.. I'm guessing this means she has been arrested, so the Prep School probably gets shut down soon after that letter was sent)
Anyways.. that list of books contains "Snicket, Lemony, A Series of Unfortunate Events"
Since it was "A Series of Unfortunate Events", instead of an individual book title, I assume that Ms K had atleast 2 of the books in the series available to her at the time.
My question is how was Lemony able to write and publish atleast two books of the series before the Prep school was shut down, if Lemony was writing the Austere Academy many years after the school was shut down.
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Post by Ennui on Dec 14, 2004 3:02:33 GMT -5
A very good question.
Mr Snicket's work is riddled with chronological inconsistency. At times you just have to hang your head and give up.
It doesn't seem likely that "many years" passed between book the fourth and book the fifth. So here are a few explanations:
1. All the inconsistencies form a highly rarefied code. They're not mistakes. Certainly not!
2. The evil side of the schism has tampered with the timeline...
3. Er...
4. That's it.
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Post by PJ on Dec 14, 2004 3:17:13 GMT -5
I bet if someone where to ask Lemony in an interview, he would say something like: LOOK OUT BEHING YOU! And then jump out of the window. But that is a very interesting point. Well done. It's good to see some newbs are being intelligent  Oh wait. Another possibility is that Lemony wrote the books, kept them secret for many years, and then published them. And his books had already been published in Snicketania (or australia) when he had written the UA. And now, all his books have come to the rest of the world, and so on so forth. |
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Post by Dante on Dec 14, 2004 14:07:00 GMT -5
Or Handler just had to change his mind about when he was writing the books in relation to their events to fit in with the new direction of the series as of TAA, and aSoUE was on the book list because it's funny (not everything has a plot reason, sheesh). I'm sure that I've said all this before.
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Post by champ103 on Dec 22, 2004 8:02:44 GMT -5
Perhaps something arised between the writing of TRR and TWW. Didn't swans figure out that around that time, the world thought Lemony Snicket to be six feet under?
Or perhaps at that time, Mrs. Bass was simply just 'checking out' the bank, to see where the walls were weak, or who were the most gullible workers there.
Adding to the first theory, Lemony Snicket could in fact have been in the Queequeg, whilst the Daily Punctilio published the information about his 'death' We know at some point he worked there, and maybe stayed there for a year or so. Then the Queequeg dropped him off by Lake Lachrymose, where he studied TWW, and TMM for another couple of years, before moving on the Prufock Prep. I mean, to study the whole story, including what the children said, must take at least six months each way.
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candy
Reptile Researcher
Posts: 17
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Post by candy on Jan 5, 2005 14:06:46 GMT -5
TEXTmaybe lemony passed by the school before she wrote the book(s). 
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Post by Dante on Jan 5, 2005 15:23:08 GMT -5
TEXTmaybe lemony passed by the school before she wrote the book(s). So Lemony is, in fact, female? That's quite a twist. |
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Post by ParsleySoda667 on Jan 10, 2005 10:36:33 GMT -5
Lmao. No, Lemony Snicket is indeed a Man, darling. |
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Post by RockSunner on Jan 10, 2005 22:29:23 GMT -5
Since it was "A Series of Unfortunate Events", instead of an individual book title, I assume that Ms K had atleast 2 of the books in the series available to her at the time. My question is how was Lemony able to write and publish at least two books of the series before the Prep school was shut down, if Lemony was writing the Austere Academy many years after the school was shut down. Ok, I have a theory for this. LSUA also reveals that an edition of "The Reptile Room" existed in some form at the Prufrock library (pp. 146-147). My theory is that Lemony wrote an early draft almost as fast as events were happening. He distributed them to chosen V.F.D. members (like Ms. K and the Prufrock librarian). Years later he revised the books for publication and put in references to later events. I'd rather try to work out a logical explanation like that than just give up and say the times are inconsistent. People who say that should never try to reason about time in the stories. |
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Post by The "Innest" Guy in town. on Jan 24, 2005 23:28:46 GMT -5
That's interesting. Maybe he was just trying to trick us? or something ;D
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Post by Lucky Orphan on Mar 28, 2005 8:34:55 GMT -5
Maybe...
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Post by Dante on Mar 28, 2005 10:28:27 GMT -5
Lucky Orphan, we do not allow the bumping of threads that haven't been posted in for over two months in the Burdensome Books. This one's pretty close to the line, so I'll let you off, but bear it in mind. |
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Post by PJ on Mar 29, 2005 6:18:59 GMT -5
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Post by Dante on Mar 29, 2005 10:05:25 GMT -5
I say we give him a warning. I agree. I'll do the bureaucracy now. Continue with on-topic discussion. |
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Antenora
Detriment Deleter 
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
Posts: 15,891 
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Post by Antenora on Mar 29, 2005 11:35:16 GMT -5
The possibility that Lemony published early drafts of the books soon after the events took place is interesting, and may help account for some apparent inconstistencies. If he published them early, he probably just sent them to VFDers, and then years later he made the "official" versions, with later information filled in.
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