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Lemony Snicket is both a pseudonym for author Daniel Handler and a character in Handler's children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events. Although Lemony Snicket does not participate in the action of the books, he serves as a narrator for all thirteen volumes and is occasionally alluded to by other characters. 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 Series of Unfortunate Events books.

Handler has also written some short fiction under the Snicket name.

Reality

Daniel Handler originally came up with "Lemony Snicket" as a pseudonym to use rather than placing his real name on the mailing lists of extreme right-wing organizations he was researching for his novel The Basic Eight. The name became an in-joke with his friends, who were known to order pizzas under the name. When Handler began writing a series of children's books, he decided to use the Snicket name as both his own pen-name and the name of his narrating character.

At the end of the audio book for The Bad Beginning, read by Tim Curry, there is an interview which is supposed to be with "Mr. Snicket". However, Snicket cannot be found, so the interview proceeds with "Mr. Handler". Daniel Handler also appears under his own name at Lemony Snicket readings and book signings, always explaining that he is Snicket's manager and will have to fill in for him as the "real" Lemony Snicket could not make it.

Snicket writing (or rather Handler's writing under the Snicket name), in their style and subject matter, bear a striking resemblance to those of writer-illustrator Edward Gorey, who died in 2000. In an interview carried by Salon.com, Handler mentioned both Gorey and children's gothic horror writer John Bellairs as inspiration for the Series.

Snicket has been credited with several works unrelated to A Series of Unfortunate Events. The first is the opening story of It Was a Dark and Silly Night, a volume of Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's Little Lit series. The story begins "In this case, SILLY stands for Slightly Intelligent, Largely Laconic Yeti..." The second is a short story published in USA Weekend Magazine (a US newspaper supplement), dated December 10-12, 2004. This holiday story is titled "The Lump of Coal" [1] and includes two full-color illustrations by Brett Helquist (who also illustrated the Series of Unfortunate Events books). The third is an introduction and a half of a story for the short story collection Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Other Things. The half story is a contest inviting readers to help finish it and win a special prize. The most recent is an orchestra piece entitled The Composer Is Dead, performed on July 8th 2006 by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. [2] The work tells the story of a murder mystery while introducing young listeners to the instruments of the orchestra. It will be published as a book, accompanied by an audio recording of the orchestra performance, by HarperCollins, although a release date has not yet been given.

Fiction

The Lemony Snicket character in the 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 apparently never meets Violet, Klaus, or Sunny in person, though it is possible that he was the taxi driver that offered the Baudelaires a ride in the Penultimate Peril. As the series progresses it becomes increasingly clear that Snicket had known the late Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire well for many years through their connections to the secret organization "V.F.D."

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.

At some point in his past, Snicket had an ill-fated romance with an actress and V.F.D. member named Beatrice, revealed at the end of the series to be the Baudelaire's mother. She eventually married another man, Bertrand, and later 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. It could also be that he is writing about Beatrice Snicket, his niece whose mother (Kit Snicket) died.

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

Snicket enjoys doing many unusual things in his free time including: hiding all traces of his actions, locating new hiding places, considering suspicious dishes, Verifying Faulty Directories and researching the perilous lives of the Baudelaires. He is known to often write himself a thank you note in an attempt to cheer himself up, but these attempts are always in vain, a word here which means "often ripped up by his enemies before they reach him." His enemies are constantly behind him and often attempt to very forcefully denounce him.

Snicket was assumed to be dead by the Baudalaire 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 was not named Lemony, the Baudelaire parents found out that Lemony was in fact alive.

Secrets

An article on Lemony Snicket's official site, released on May 16 2006, listed "thirteen shocking secrets" about Lemony Snicket. They were:

• Lemony Snicket is not who you think he is.
• Lemony Snicket's niece is an orphan.
• Lemony Snicket is one of three siblings.
• Lemony Snicket is wanted for arson.
• Lemony Snicket grew up with a terrible villain.
• Lemony Snicket attended boarding school.
• When he was a baby, Lemony Snicket was kidnapped by a secret organization.
• Lemony Snicket was fired from The Daily Punctilio. (He worked writing obituaries)
• Lemony Snicket helped Beatrice commit a serious crime before her death.
• Lemony Snicket was disguised as a bullfighter when he was captured.
• Lemony Snicket's work is filled with secret messages meant for his associates.
• Lemony Snicket has a tattoo of an eye on his ankle.
• He is finished.

For more information, see 13 Shocking Secrets That You'll Wish You Never Knew About Lemony Snicket. Evidence shows that Lemony Snicket was at all of the horrible and wonderful places that the Bauldelaires have been to because in all of the books it says things like "As I stand here right now trying to imagine what it was like for the Bauldelaires."

References

iTunes Celebrity Playlist

iTunes often has celebrity playlists, where celebrities name their favorite songs and write a "commentary" about the songs. When Lemony Snicket was the featured celebrity, his chosen songs were:

Track 1: "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Marianne Faithfull

"This first song is a sort of opening theme for this somewhat lachrymose playlist. If the entire playlist can be called 'A Series of Unhappy Songs,' then Ms. Faithfull gives us a map."

Track 2: "One Day Late" by Sam Phillips

"I normally do not have much enthusiasm for gospel music, but Ms. Phillips succinctly preaches a philosophy to which I adhere."

Track 3: "Calculation Theme" by Metric

"This band is from Canada, where misery has been raised to an art."

Track 4: "4th of July" by Aimee Mann

"Normally, summertime is thought of as a cheerful season. This song demonstrates the fallacy of this assumption."

Track 5: "Nobody's Fault But My Own" by Beck

While Ms. Mann's song blames other people for her misery, Beck prefers to blame himself."

Track 6: "Ramon" by Laurie Anderson

"Ms. Anderson here tells a story I often tell myself on damp and chilly evenings."

Track 7: "Scriabin Sonata No.9, Op.68 "Black Mass"" performed by pianist Vladimir Horowitz

"Alexander Scriabin thought that he could bring about the end of the world if he composed the proper symphony. He died before this task could be completed, which is perhaps why the world has not yet ended."

Tracks 8-10: "Shostakovich String Quartet No. 7 in F Sharp Minor" performed by the Borodin String Quartet

"Of all the oppressively melodramatic and melodramatically oppressive string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich, #7 is perhaps the most melodramatic."

Track 11: "Ever Falls the Twilight" by The Gothic Archies

"The Gothic Archies remind us that even the most miserable of days, just like the most miserable of playlists, will eventually end."

External links

• Official site
• Interviews and chapter excerpts (Official publisher web page)

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