Lemony Snicket

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A Series of Unfortunate Events character
Lemony Snicket
Gender	Male
Hair color	Dark brown
Age	Adult, in his thirties. Officially listed as "tall, with brown eyes."
Film actor	Jude Law
First appearance	The Bad Beginning, first actual appearance in The Penultimate Peril

Lemony Snicket is a pseudonym used by author Daniel Handler in his children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, as well as a character in that series. More information about the Snicket character's background can be found in Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography and The Beatrice Letters, two companion volumes to the A Series of Unfortunate Events books. Thirteen secrets about him have also been revealed in 13 Shocking Secrets You'll Wish You Never Knew About Lemony Snicket.

Handler has also written some other books and short fiction under the Lemony Snicket name.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Other Work 3 Name Origin 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Biography

The Lemony Snicket character in the A Series of Unfortunate Events books is a former theater critic who has charged himself with the task of researching and writing the sad story of the Baudelaire orphans. He traced their movements and collects evidence relating to their adventures, but it is possible that he never met Violet, Klaus, or Sunny in person, though fans often identify him as a taxi driver who appeared briefly in The Penultimate Peril. As the series progresses it becomes increasingly clear that Snicket knew the late Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire well for many years through their connections to the secret organization "V.F.D.". However, as mentioned in The Hostile Hospital and The End, despite all of Lemony's research and hard work, he still does not know the current location, position and status of the Baudelaire children. Lemony was recruited by V.F.D. as a child, according to the Little Snicket Lad song^[1] and other material that can be found in the Unauthorized Autobiography. In The Beatrice Letters his niece (Kit Snicket's daughter), who is also named Beatrice, mentions that she believes he is a detective of some sort, a reference to his investigations into the case of the Baudelaire children and presumably other cases.

Snicket is frequently disparaging of himself; he has described himself as a coward, and at various points in his novels comments that he would not have been as brave as the Baudelaire children had he been in their situation. He also confesses that he has done things that were not noble, most notably the theft of the sugar bowl from Esmé Squalor. He has also implied that he had a part in the murder of the parents of the main antagonist of the series, Count Olaf.

Like the Baudelaire children, Snicket came from a family of three children. His brother Jacques and sister Kit were also V.F.D. members and friends of the Baudelaire parents. Both Jacques and Kit appear as supporting characters in the Series of Unfortunate Events books. He also knew Count Olaf in his early life, as the two attended school together.

In his youth, Lemony Snicket attended a V.F.D.-run boarding school with several other characters from the series. He received later tuition at a V.F.D. headquarters in the Mortmain Mountains, and was employed at newspaper The Daily Punctilio after graduating.

During his early life, after meeting at school, Snicket conducted an ill-fated romance with an actress and V.F.D. member named Beatrice, revealed at the end of the series to be the mother of series protagonists Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. Lemony and Beatrice were engaged to be married, but Beatrice broke off the engagement for unclear reasons (although the series heavily implies that she believed Lemony to be responsible for crimes committed by Count Olaf) and returned her ring to Lemony, along with a two-hundred page book explaining why the two could not be wed. She eventually married another man, Bertrand, and finally suffered a tragic death in the fire that destroyed the Baudelaire's mansion. Snicket frequently alludes to Beatrice in his narration and dedicates each Series of Unfortunate Events book to her. Certain dedications, however, may refer to Beatrice Snicket, his niece whose mother Kit died.

Snicket was believed to be dead by the Baudelaire parents, as their book on Olaf-Land states that, following with the tradition of naming children after someone who has died, Violet was to be named Lemony if she was a boy. However, it can be assumed that since Klaus, the next born, was not named Lemony, the Baudelaire parents found out that Lemony was in fact alive, probably because of a telegram Lemony sent to them (which appears in The Beatrice Letters).

Snicket is also known to have been close friends with a woman called "R.", who was the Duchess of Winnipeg.

In the narration of the books, Snicket describes doing many unusual things in his free time, including: hiding all traces of his actions, locating new hiding places, considering suspicious dishes, and researching the perilous lives of the Baudelaires. He claims to often write himself a thank-you note in an attempt to cheer himself up, but these attempts are always in vain. In The Grim Grotto, Captain Widdershins states that "Jacques's brother", obviously Lemony, was once part of his crew on the Queequeg. He is also implied to have been a member of the crew on one cruise of the ship Prospero.

Snicket's enemies are constantly behind him and often attempt to very forcefully denounce him, and a frequent topic in Snicket's narration are the various traps set by his enemies and the actions he has undertaken to escape them. He is often said to be the victim of a world-wide conspiracy, possibly a reference to his enemies in V.F.D. This subject is often extended to Snicket's author blurbs and other publisher material not written by Snicket.

[edit] Other Work

Daniel Handler has also written or contributed to other works under the Lemony Snicket persona that are not related to A Series of Unfortunate Events. The first of these was a secular Nativity story entitled The Baby in the Manger that caused controversy for its supposed anti-family views. Another Christmas story about a lump of coal, entitled The Lump of Coal, was published in USA Weekend in 2004 ^[2]. As Snicket, Handler wrote an introduction and endnotes for The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily, his favourite children's book, that referenced A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Upcoming books written under the Lemony Snicket name are a book of quotes partly taken from the series, entitled Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid, and The Composer Is Dead, a murder mystery designed to introduce young readers to the instruments of the orchestra. The latter was previously produced as an orchestral work by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, with Handler narrating as Snicket, and a recording of the performance is to be included with every copy of the expanded book ^[3].

[edit] Name Origin

The name Lemony Snicket ostensibly came from research for Handler's first book, The Basic Eight, although Handler later admitted that this was not entirely true ^[4]. Handler wanted to receive material from organizations he found "offensive or funny", but did not want to use his real name and eventually invented Lemony Snicket as a pseudonym ^[5]. He would also use the name to write prank letters to newspapers, pretending to be outraged at a trivial news item ^[6]. When writing A Series of Unfortunate Events, he thought it would be interesting to publish the books under the narrator's name rather than that of the author, and felt that Lemony Snicket was appropriate ^[7].

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• 13 Shocking Secrets That You'll Wish You Never Knew About Lemony Snicket
• Daniel Handler

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Interviews and chapter excerpts (Official publisher web page)
• The Lemony Snicket book trailers