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Post by Dear Dairy on Jan 18, 2009 19:49:36 GMT -5
Today. I'm looking at mine right now. We have a large collection of recordings on old-fashioned vinyl.
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Post by Hermes on Jan 19, 2009 7:28:28 GMT -5
Today. I'm looking at mine right now. We have a large collection of recordings on old-fashioned vinyl. Ah - this may be a case of 'two nations divided by a common language'. I take a phonograph to be a thing that plays cylinders; the thing that plays discs I would call a gramophone. (Well, actually I would probably call it a record-player, but in a formal context where it was necessary to make clear what kind of machine it was, I would say 'gramophone'.) So I was assuming that Handler meant this as another piece of bizarreness. But apparently usage varies from country to country, so perhaps it's just meant to be slightly old-fashioned, in keeping with much of the series. (I certainly didn't mean 'How bizarre of them not to have CDs!' I am old enough to remember life wihout them.)
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Post by hieitouyaicedemon on Jan 19, 2009 12:24:43 GMT -5
(I certainly didn't mean 'How bizarre of them not to have CDs!' I am old enough to remember life wihout them.) I'm not! Well, I am, but barely. Concerning the different technologies... I think they're used more for characterization. Notice a lot of the so-called "good guys" use old fashioned things like phonographs (Beatrice) and trolleys (Baudelaires,) where the more technologically advanced items (Nero's computer, Lucky Smells machinery, etc.) seems to appear in the hands of the more villanious characters (Sir's place in the "villian" category is unsure, but at the time of TMM, he was certainly more villianous than valiant.) Even elevators are cast as sinister! There are exceptions, of course - the Queequeg is obviously a technological marvel in the hands of volunteers (though, to be fair, it's rather out-of-date.) However, most of Violet's inventions (in fact, almost all of them) are much simpler, with less chance for one of a million parts to break down. Maybe it's true that Lemony is trying to steer us away from technology, though I believe the technology used also says a lot about the character. Josephine was terrified of everything, which could possibly allude to a past experience with such technology.
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Post by Very Funky Disco on Mar 25, 2009 14:41:22 GMT -5
It's been some time, since I last went to this board. Yeah, the computer that was described in The Austere Academy sounds like that wasn't around before the 1970s. I think I'm still going to set the events of the books at around 1981 to 1983. People did still listen to records a lot, in the late '70s and early '80s.
It seems like the Baudelaires don't really have much opportunity to listen to music. I'd like to think rock and roll still exists in the ASOUE Universe, though.
Anyway, is we consider the ASOUE as an alternate universe, we'd have to consider other factors - besides the technology. Certain animals exist in that world, that don't exist in ours - and, of course, there's the whole history with the VFD.
The earliest that the series could possibly take place would be in the 1930s - since, in The Miserable Mill, Klaus makes a reference to the 1920s. The way he said it implied that it no longer was the 1920s.
The latest that the series could possibly take place would be 1999, when The Bad Beginning was published. Yet, as Lemony Snicket describes the events as happening some time ago - it's probably best to bump it back to the 1980s, at least.
So, yeah, I still contend that the early 1980s would be the best bet - although, I think the 1970s could also work. The 1960s might be pushing it back too far. In Lemony Snicket's The Unauthorized Autobiography, there were mentions to the Roald Dahl's Matilda and Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby Age 8 - both of which were published in the 1980s. The letter referencing the aforementioned books was apparently written while the events of the series were taking place.
Reason for Editing: a few details
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Post by Hermes on Mar 25, 2009 15:39:42 GMT -5
It's been some time, since I last went to this board. Hi! This will probably come up in the course of the reread. (Have you seen the reread?) It's tricky; there are some things that suggest Lemony is just behind the Baudelaires, and others which suggest he is writing long after the events. I actually agree with you that 'long after' makes more sense of the series as a whole. Just how long after is hard to say, though; my favourite idea is that he wrote them during the ten years after the events, so was just coming to the end (or indeed The End) when he met young Beatrice at the end of TBL. But there are a couple of things which suggest an even longer timespan. Oh Mr Snicket, why do you make things so difficult for us?
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Post by Very Funky Disco on Mar 25, 2009 16:41:09 GMT -5
What is the re-read, exactly? I've been kind of out of the loop, for awhile.
I guess Daniel Handler is doing a novel version the The Composer Is Dead, under the Lemony Snicket moniker. I wonder what that's going to be like. I guess that would be his first novel length non-ASOUE story, under that moniker..
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Post by Dante on Mar 25, 2009 16:52:20 GMT -5
The reread is an ongoing reread of every book in the series, with TAA expected to start soon. Threads are Announcements based in the relevant board.
As for TCiD, it's out. As far as I can tell, the text hasn't actually been expanded.
As for the topic itself, I doubt I need to restate my position. If it's recognisably modern, it probably shouldn't be projected to exist in the series - or at least, there should not be a wholescale update to modern technology. There's a predominantly archaic feel, although some modern items are allowed to exist more or less on the fringes, and generally somewhat outdated in themselves.
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Post by Very Funky Disco on Mar 25, 2009 17:58:25 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to check them out.
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Post by blakegriplingph on Jan 12, 2010 18:24:39 GMT -5
I mostly consider the time period to be an alternate one, much like in the Fallout games, where it is set in the future yet the people there are in a cultural stasis, like as if they're stuck in the 50s, yet they're having some advanced technology. A computer screen was mentioned in TPP, if I'm not mistaken, and Mr. Poe mentioned that he'll be taking a helicopter ride in The Ersatz .
I would imagine swing and big band music being the in-thing back in Violet's day, although it its likely that Elvis and other bands were also cool back then.
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Post by Tiago James Squalor on Jan 12, 2010 18:50:03 GMT -5
I think that ASoUE is a a lot like an anachronistic steampunk-based story. 19th century, but with technology of a varying level of sofistication. It's pointless, IMO, to try and determinate an era where the events could have taken place in our world and time.
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Post by Seymour Glass on May 7, 2010 15:00:13 GMT -5
So, yeah, I still contend that the early 1980s would be the best bet - although, I think the 1970s could also work. The 1960s might be pushing it back too far. In Lemony Snicket's The Unauthorized Autobiography, there were mentions to the Roald Dahl's Matilda and Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby Age 8 - both of which were published in the 1980s. The letter referencing the aforementioned books was apparently written while the events of the series were taking place. Reason for Editing: a few detailsI think the 60s could work. I don't think TUA can be completely accepted as canon, since it is unauthorized.
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Post by Christmas Chief on May 7, 2010 15:14:33 GMT -5
"Unauthorized", I think, was meant as a pun on that it's an autobiography. It is a direct supplement to the series, and could be considered an actual part of it, though not really relevant to the plot itself.
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Post by Hermes on May 7, 2010 18:02:02 GMT -5
I think 'Unauthorised' has to be understood in-universe - that is, the papers collected in the book really exist within the ASOUE universe, but they haven't been authorised by Lemony Snicket, so we can't be sure that what they say is true.
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Post by Dante on May 8, 2010 4:17:50 GMT -5
"Unauthorised autobiography" is a pun on the "unauthorised biographies" that sometimes get published. In addition, I'm sure Snicket would never authorise a book about himself, but many of the papers and notes therein are directly related to or even written by himself, which is why it would qualify as an autobiography. Of course, some of those texts are unreliable, and some aren't directly related to Snicket at all.
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Post by Tiago James Squalor on May 13, 2010 21:16:45 GMT -5
"Unauthorised autobiography" is a pun on the "unauthorised biographies" that sometimes get published. In addition, I'm sure Snicket would never authorise a book about himself, but many of the papers and notes therein are directly related to or even written by himself, which is why it would qualify as an autobiography. Of course, some of those texts are unreliable, and some aren't directly related to Snicket at all. There is an 'Unathorized Autobiography' by colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Márquez, one of my favorite writers by the way. ^^
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