My lovely wife and I have a habit of reading children’s books that are organized into a series. So many children’s books are full of layers and allusions that one misses as a child. Re-reading these books as an adult is sometimes better than reading a completely new book! I have found this to be true even with re-reading some books first read for grade school book reports, college term papers, etc.
The first series we read was the Narnia series. Very good to re-read. Much of the subtleness lost the first go round came shining through the second.
Coming to the point, the second series we are reading is the “Series of Unfortunate Events” books by Lemony Snicket. These are interesting, light reads- mostly good. Reading this as at an adult age, but apparently from a child’s viewpoint, I recently discovered that I was missing both subtle and obvious allusions by the proverbial country mile.
The heroes of this series are three intrepid ophans, their parents the possible victims of what was thought to be a tragic fire, but was surely an arson. The villian is the sinister Count Olaf, who is after the orphan’s family fortune. Featured in each book is a diffent inept guardian who fails to protect the children. Some guardians are tricked, some are murdered, some trade away the orphan’s safety in hopes of securing their own, etc.
On of these guardians later turns out to be in leauge with the evil Count Olaf- one Esme Squalor. Ring any bells? Tickle any half-asleep synapses? Turns out that there is a JD Salinger short story called “For Esmé – With Love and Squalor”.
How do I know this? Because the answer to last Sunday’s crossword puzzle for 14 down was Esme. The clue was something along the lines of “Salinger title character”. As the only Salinger character I could come up was Holden Caufield, who isn’t featured in the title, I Googled up the answer. Leading to Esme.
Which led to this post and the tiniest of enrichments to your life. Enjoy. Bask in the warm glow of newly gained trivia.
ps- Try out the Narnia link. The web page looks pretty slick- apparently a movie is coming out.
pps- A “Series of Unfortuante Events” movie is coming out as well, Jim Carey as the evil Count Olaf. Neat casting, as the Olaf in the book is something of an ersatz Master of Disguises.
pps- Here is a link to a site that collects some of the many allusions that make up a “Unfortunate” book.
ppps- lemonysnicket.com
A lot to digest here, but let me first add that the same also applies to children’s movies. I suspect we missed out as kids and their movies have come a very long way, but I think stuff like “Shrek” ranks among the best movies Hollywood is turning out these days. “Ogres have layers donkey…” and so do the movies. First of all the animation and effects are obviously far better than what we had as kids, but the studios also know who butters their bread and they keep adults entertained. There are lots of sexual double entendres and stuff in there that kids would never get and all kinds of other allusions. I think Danny took this to a deeper level with the allusions in literature, but it’s cut from the same mold.
It’s also funny to reflect on just how utterly insane a lot of kid’s stories are and how we never realized it at the time. For starters, anything by the Brothers Grimm is borderline gruesome and disturbing. Of course most of that stuff was prettied up by the time it made it to our culture, but there’s still plenty of stuff like wolves eating grandmothers. Some of it is just nonsense, which reminds me of the Bob Marley song “You Can’t Blame The Youth” in which the message is “we tell our kids a cow jumps over the moon and a dish ran away with the spoon and we wonder why they’re insane?” (apparently covered by Ben Harper based on a web search I just did – I’d like to hear that version)
Your teacher used to learn in school
How a cow flies over the moon
You teacher used to learn in school
How a dish run away with a spoon, so
You can’t blame the youth
You can’t fool the youth
You can’t blame the youth of today
You teacher used teach about Christopher Columbus
And you said he was a very great man
You used to teach about Marco Polo
And you said he was a very great man, so
You can’t blame the youth
You can’t fool the youth
You can’t blame the youth, not at all
When every Christmas comes around
You buy the youth a fancy toy
When every Christmas comes around
You buy the youth a fancy toy, so
You can’t blame the youth
You can’t fool the youth
You can’t blame the youth, not at all
you teacher used teach about Pirate Hawkins
you teacher used teach about Pirate Morgan
And you said he was a very great man
you teacher used teach about Christopher Columbus
And you said he was a very great man
you teacher used teach about Marco Polo, so
You can’t blame the youth
You can’t fool the youth
You can’t blame the youth of today