Contradictions in ASOUE?

[owlcitizen11]

I have found a few contradictions.

The first one is in TMM, Klaus breaks his glasses and claims he cannot see anything! But in TAA, he can see enough to read two small notebooks.

Another is in TWW, going through a hurricane has turned Aunt Josephine's note into a wet, sloppy mess. But in TE, they go through a storm and Klaus's commonplace book manages to be dry!

If you have any other, post em here.

[Leanora Crowe]

Okay, first of all, I must say that it would make sense that Klaus had either fixed his glasses or got new ones by the time the children went to the boarding school. That's the assumption, anyway.

Also, I think the difference is that the notebook was tucked away in his pocket and has a cover to protect it. It isn't necessarily perfectly dry, it's just dry enough to be plenty readable.

[Dante]

If anything, these are more like minor errors. I was expecting things like the timing of the schism being clearly different in TPP from when it was in the U.A., or the confusion surrounding the identity of Gustav Sebald.

[owlcitizen11]

thses weren't supposed to be HUGE mistakes, just things that i noticed! that's for the feedback!!!

[Dante]

Okay, that's fine, just so long as I'm aware of what your aim is - plot holes or inconsistencies of a sort. I'm sure there are more that people can identify.

[Christmas Chief]

Isn't there a part in TE that describes Ishmael having fixed Klaus's commonplace book? And it's possible "can't see anything" was an exaggeration. But you're right: there are a number of small inconsistencies in the series, the size of the Incredibly Deadly Viper being the immediate example that comes to mind.

[Hermes]

What is the confusion surrounding the identity of Gustav Sebald?

As for Klaus' glasses, doesn't Dr Orwell repair them? She does other things as well, of course, but I think we can take it that he has working glasses from then on.

[Dante]

The confusion is that there is a character called Gustav, and a character called Gustav Sebald, and they are associated with some of the same characters and places, and they are both dead, and yet the death of one seems to be followed by responses on the part of the other, despite the fact that it would otherwise be a straightforward assumption that the two characters are one and the same for the elements they share. There are workarounds in both directions - that they aren't the same character at all, and that they are but various other circumstances create what appears to be an impossible situation.

Edit: Oh yeah, also, how long the Quagmires spent at Prufrock Prep. vs. when the Quagmire fire occurred. I think the common theme here is that a lot of these things don't really matter in the big picture; Gustav is the very definition of a minor character, for instance.

[Tiago James Squalor]

There's also tjhe mysterious Charles Kit mentions in Book the Twelfth. Is he Charles from TMM, or is he a new character in the Snicket family tree?

[Invisible]

Well, I made that last one work by making Charles the Snickets' cousin in my ficverse. But you're right. Charles doesn't necessarily mean *ahem* Charles, it could be anyone. I hadn't thought that before.

[owlcitizen11]

the klaus glasses thing is that in order for duncan to look like klaus, he is given the glasses. then as the quagmires are running, klaus studies. THAT'S what i mean, not that his glasses don't work.

[Hermes]

Mar 22, 2011 17:06:15 GMT -5 Tiago James Squalor said:

There's also tjhe mysterious Charles Kit mentions in Book the Twelfth. Is he Charles from TMM, or is he a new character in the Snicket family tree?

Well, Charles from TMM is in TPP, and he has been corresponding with 'JS' - and Dewey knows about him - so I think it's him.

Mar 22, 2011 16:52:33 GMT -5 Dante said:

The confusion is that there is a character called Gustav, and a character called Gustav Sebald, and they are associated with some of the same characters and places, and they are both dead, and yet the death of one seems to be followed by responses on the part of the other, despite the fact that it would otherwise be a straightforward assumption that the two characters are one and the same for the elements they share. There are workarounds in both directions - that they aren't the same character at all, and that they are but various other circumstances create what appears to be an impossible situation.

I don't think I ever saw any real reason to think they are the same. They have different occupations, and they seem to be in different places. The only link, apart from the name, is that they both have something to do with Monty.

Mar 22, 2011 17:30:02 GMT -5 owlcitizen11 said:

the klaus glasses thing is that in order for duncan to look like klaus, he is given the glasses. then as the quagmires are running, klaus studies. THAT'S what i mean, not that his glasses don't work.

Ah, OK, that is a puzzle, then. I think I agree with Sherry Ann - it can't really mean 'can't see anything'. I don't believe there is any kind of sight defect where you can't see anything without glasses, but can see with them. I guess he's very short-sighted, so can't see anything more than a foot from his face, or the like.

Edit: one really big apparent contradiction concerns when the books are being written. TUA, and some suggestions in the later books, especially TSS, imply that they were written while the unfortunate events were still going on. But other indications - including some in the same books - imply that, on the contrary, they were written many years later.

By the way, shouldn't this thread be in Sardonic Series, rather than Weary Writer?