Post by Dante on Mar 26, 2007 10:35:27 GMT -5
"BEATRICE SANK" is the only anagram that can be considered fully canonical. "A BRAE SNICKET" doesn't mean anything, and I'd be tempted to view it as a red herring, and while one other anagram I've heard, "BEAR A SNICKET" (a reference to Kit's daughter) is in some ways tempting, I'm not entirely sure if two anagrams were intended. I also don't think the letters LS should be included in an attempt to make an anagram - young Beatrice may include them in her collection of letters, but I think that was for the purpose of more puns, and the letters are missing, rather than present, from Lemony's letter to the editor (their being punched out on the preceding page is just a neat little visual, I think). In any case, the suggestion I've seen for that, SNICKET BRAE-LASS, has an extra S and wouldn't work.
~~~
I don't regard any material in TBL except for the pure text itself as canonical (and even then, I don't include the typos, except for the intended "Deaf" one, as I think TBL was probably put together by the same people who made up the Shocking Secrets document, which also misspelt "Denouement" and included the nonsensical character chart - and there have been Sebald Code mistakes in the U.A. and TPP as well), as the idea to make it into a more realistic set of documents was apparently entirely HC's idea. I have the same concerns about the poster - while one side obviously pertains to the anagram (and, I feel, defeats the purpose by making it too obvious, although I also feel the punch-out letters were superfluous and made it too obvious), I think the two sides pertain to the two writers rather than two solutions. Beatrice is obviously associated with the ship that sank that she was on when she sank, and Lemony is associated with the cave because he's the brae-man (although not in the play, but in the reality the play was based on). So I'd be very unsure about there being a second anagram, especially one that doesn't pass on a coherent message. I should note that the Egmont edition of TBL says "Contains a clue to Book the Thirteenth." "A" clue. I accept, though, that Egmont is an indirect publisher of aSoUE and so not as reliable.
In addition, I don't think that the placement of the punch-out letters on their plates of poster artwork has any meaning - they just took interesting parts of the poster that made a good iconic image, so that one slowly builds up a sinister picture. I highly doubt Handler had much to do with the punch-out letters but merely intended the letters to be hidden in the letters themselves, and I highly doubt he had much to do with creating the poster (he’s explained he has little choice in the illustrations of the books, and even the clues in the last pictures could have been drawn from the Editor letters up to THH, although there could well have been some interaction there), and, by extension, I don't believe he'd have had much to do with where on the poster the letters are placed. And if nobody's come up with a meaningful explanation of what the letters mean when placed on the poster, that probably means there isn't one. In many ways, aSoUE is quite simple - there's a reason why the Sebald Code is always circled. (You may argue Beatrice's letter from the braes has unmarked Sebald Code, but then there is no message – I think that was to show that there was more said there for her to hear, but she obviously couldn't have learnt the Sebald Code at the time.)
~~~
I don't believe the second calling card, from the younger Beatrice, was compatible or directly followed on, in tone, style, or situation, with her previous letter to Lemony. That letter had an air of finality about it quite different to the almost casual tone of the calling card, which could easily be about something else or to someone else. The calling card shares much in common with the calling card Lemony sent Beatrice when they were children (note the flipped colour scheme from red on white to white on red - they're parallels, like much else in The End and in TBL). Combined with the fact that young Beatrice shares several qualities with Lemony himself, and the fact that many individuals have the same initials, and (to a lesser extent) the fact that we were promised an “unhappily ever after” ending... I think young Beatrice has developed a habit of drinking root beer floats at the café, and, while there, found herself quite impressed with another young lad of about the same age as her, and that maybe they'll start to spend a lot of time together, and that this will lead to an unfortunate event where she'll never be happy again. She's the Lemony Snicket figure of the future, the same names recurring again and again through time. The cycle of misfortune goes on, forever.
~~~
I don't regard any material in TBL except for the pure text itself as canonical (and even then, I don't include the typos, except for the intended "Deaf" one, as I think TBL was probably put together by the same people who made up the Shocking Secrets document, which also misspelt "Denouement" and included the nonsensical character chart - and there have been Sebald Code mistakes in the U.A. and TPP as well), as the idea to make it into a more realistic set of documents was apparently entirely HC's idea. I have the same concerns about the poster - while one side obviously pertains to the anagram (and, I feel, defeats the purpose by making it too obvious, although I also feel the punch-out letters were superfluous and made it too obvious), I think the two sides pertain to the two writers rather than two solutions. Beatrice is obviously associated with the ship that sank that she was on when she sank, and Lemony is associated with the cave because he's the brae-man (although not in the play, but in the reality the play was based on). So I'd be very unsure about there being a second anagram, especially one that doesn't pass on a coherent message. I should note that the Egmont edition of TBL says "Contains a clue to Book the Thirteenth." "A" clue. I accept, though, that Egmont is an indirect publisher of aSoUE and so not as reliable.
In addition, I don't think that the placement of the punch-out letters on their plates of poster artwork has any meaning - they just took interesting parts of the poster that made a good iconic image, so that one slowly builds up a sinister picture. I highly doubt Handler had much to do with the punch-out letters but merely intended the letters to be hidden in the letters themselves, and I highly doubt he had much to do with creating the poster (he’s explained he has little choice in the illustrations of the books, and even the clues in the last pictures could have been drawn from the Editor letters up to THH, although there could well have been some interaction there), and, by extension, I don't believe he'd have had much to do with where on the poster the letters are placed. And if nobody's come up with a meaningful explanation of what the letters mean when placed on the poster, that probably means there isn't one. In many ways, aSoUE is quite simple - there's a reason why the Sebald Code is always circled. (You may argue Beatrice's letter from the braes has unmarked Sebald Code, but then there is no message – I think that was to show that there was more said there for her to hear, but she obviously couldn't have learnt the Sebald Code at the time.)
~~~
I don't believe the second calling card, from the younger Beatrice, was compatible or directly followed on, in tone, style, or situation, with her previous letter to Lemony. That letter had an air of finality about it quite different to the almost casual tone of the calling card, which could easily be about something else or to someone else. The calling card shares much in common with the calling card Lemony sent Beatrice when they were children (note the flipped colour scheme from red on white to white on red - they're parallels, like much else in The End and in TBL). Combined with the fact that young Beatrice shares several qualities with Lemony himself, and the fact that many individuals have the same initials, and (to a lesser extent) the fact that we were promised an “unhappily ever after” ending... I think young Beatrice has developed a habit of drinking root beer floats at the café, and, while there, found herself quite impressed with another young lad of about the same age as her, and that maybe they'll start to spend a lot of time together, and that this will lead to an unfortunate event where she'll never be happy again. She's the Lemony Snicket figure of the future, the same names recurring again and again through time. The cycle of misfortune goes on, forever.