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Post by Marlowe on Jun 5, 2020 23:52:45 GMT -5
In April 2000, Daniel Handler was enlisted by Slate.com to contribute five columns for their "Diary" feature - each column written in the form of a journal or blog entry, together all covering a typical week in the life of the author. Handler's pieces typically tend to digress from descriptions of daily routine into general ramblings about whatever happens to be on his mind at the time. They're mostly non-essential and more than a little pretentious, but they're amusing enough, and so I thought it'd be worth posting them here. The first entry, about deadlines and working on The Ersatz Elevator The second entry, about teaching at Wesleyan University The third entry, about receiving fan letters The fourth entry, about "sublimated courtship" at the gym The final entry, about Coney Island, bathrooms, and Meredith Heuer (Side note: it seems the photograph he discusses taking here is the same one seen in the back pages of The Carnivorous Carnival.) Read and discuss at your leisure.
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Post by Dante on Jun 6, 2020 8:14:03 GMT -5
Thank you for collecting these, Marlowe; I've referred to them on occasion, and in particular I think a certain amount about TEE is explained by the fact of it having been rushed to meet a deadline. In retrospect, however, I'm rather curious about the April 2000 date marked on the entries. It's not just that Handler gives away a pretty significant detail about TEE almost a year before that book would be published; it's that line where he says, "If you can’t follow this, you probably haven’t read the five books that precede it" - but in April 2000, The Austere Academy also hadn't been published yet, meaning that it too could not have been read by any member of the public, and in consequence he's giving away the very existence of the Quagmire Triplets and their subplot.
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Post by FileneNGottlin on Jun 6, 2020 18:38:52 GMT -5
(Side note: it seems the photograph he discusses taking here is the same one seen in the back pages of The Carnivorous Carnival.) What photo are you referring to? I've gone through my copy of the book and I can't find any. My computer doesn't seem to use the quote feature. This sentence and the three before it are mine.
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Post by Marlowe on Jun 6, 2020 18:45:18 GMT -5
(Side note: it seems the photograph he discusses taking here is the same one seen in the back pages of The Carnivorous Carnival.) What photo are you referring to? I've gone through my copy of the book and I can't find any. The author bio at the end of the book. My copy has a picture of DH with his back to the camera, a Ferris wheel in the background. (Try switching to BCCode if you're having trouble with quotes).
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TheAsh
Formidable Foreman
Posts: 175
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Post by TheAsh on Jun 8, 2020 1:31:10 GMT -5
Thanks! I haven't read them and just added this to my pocket-reading list.
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Post by Reba on Jun 8, 2020 2:06:11 GMT -5
these are so 2000
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Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Jun 10, 2020 15:46:45 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure Sir and Charles are based on Herb and the Marquis from the gym.
PS: I definitely have read the fifth entry a longer while ago, but never the other ones, so thank you for this, Marlowe!
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Post by Marlowe on Jun 11, 2020 18:46:13 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure Sir and Charles are based on Herb and the Marquis from the gym. PS: I definitely have read the fifth entry a longer while ago, but never the other ones, so thank you for this, Marlowe! Heh. Not sure if you're joking or not... but just in case you're not, these columns were written right after the publication of TMM. So it's unlikely those two were an inspiration.
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Post by Marlowe on Jun 16, 2020 15:11:16 GMT -5
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