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Daniel Handler

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Daniel Handler
Daniel Handler at a party celebrating the publication of The End, the thirteenth and final installment of A Series of Unfortunate Events, on October 12, 2006 in New York City
Daniel Handler at a party celebrating the publication of The End, the thirteenth and final installment of A Series of Unfortunate Events, on October 12, 2006 in New York City
Pen nameLemony Snicket
OccupationNovelist, screenwriter
Nationality United States
Period1998 -
GenreLiterary fiction, black comedy, children's literature
Website
http://www.lemonysnicket.com

Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970) is an American writer, screenwriter and accordionist. He is best known for his work under the pen name Lemony Snicket.

Personal life

Handler was born in San Francisco, California. He attended Commodore Sloat Elementary, Herbert Hoover Middle School and Lowell High School. Handler graduated from Wesleyan University in 1992. He is an alumnus of the San Francisco Boys Chorus.

Handler is married to Lisa Brown, a graphic artist he met at Wesleyan University. They have a son, Otto, who was born around Halloween 2003. They live in an old Victorian house in San Francisco. Handler's mother is retired City College of San Francisco dean Sandra Handler, and his father, Louis Handler, is an accountant. He also has a younger sister, Rebecca Handler.

Handler is politically active and helped form LitPAC. In the June 10, 2007 edition of The New York Times Magazine, Handler reveals ambivalence toward his wealth, and the expectations it creates. He states he is often asked for money for charitable causes and often gives. In an interview conducted by the 667 Dark Avenue fansite, Daniel Handler gave his personal philosophy as "Never refuse a breath mint". [1]

Handler describes himself as being an atheist and a secular humanist.[2] In addition, he says "I'm not a believer in predetermined fates, being rewarded for one's efforts. I'm not a believer in karma. The reason why I try to be a good person is because I think it's the right thing to do. If I commit fewer bad acts there will be fewer bad acts, maybe other people will join in committing fewer bad acts, and in time there'll be fewer and fewer of them". [3]

Professional work

Handler has pursued careers in books, music and film.

Books

Three of his novels have been published under his name. His first, The Basic Eight, was rejected by many publishers for its subject matter and tone (a dark view of a teenage girl's life). Handler claims that the novel was rejected thirty-seven times before finally being published. The book's tone served as an impetus of sorts for the Lemony Snicket works, the sad A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Watch Your Mouth, his second novel, was actually completed before The Basic Eight was published. It follows a more operatic theme, complete with stage directions and various acts. Described by HarperCollins, the book's reprint publisher, as an "incest opera", it mixed Jewish mythology with modern sexuality. Watch Your Mouth's second half replaces the opera troupe with the form of a 12-step recovery, linguistically undergone by the protagonist.

His most recent effort under his own name is Adverbs, a series of short stories that he says are "about love". It was published in April 2006.

Handler has stated that his next adult novel is about pirates - or, more specifically, a modern-age pirate who "wants to be an old-fashioned kind of pirate". [1]

Lemony Snicket

Main article: Lemony Snicket
Handler signing copies of his books at a promotion for A Series of Unfortunate Events in February, 2006

Handler began writing A Series of Unfortunate Events under the Snicket pseudonym in 1999. The books concern three orphaned children who have progressively more terrible things happen to them, and Snicket acts as the narrator and biographer of the fictional orphans.

Handler has also appeared at author appearances as "Lemony Snicket's handler", as well as appearing as Snicket himself in various other books and media, including the commentary track for the film version of his books, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. He also wrote an introduction to Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography under his own name.

The Lemony Snicket books have been international best-sellers, and the 13th and final installment of the series came out Friday, October 13, 2006. On the day the thirteenth book came out, Handler appeared on the Today show as Lemony Snicket's representative.

Handler has also written some short fiction under the Lemony Snicket pseudonym.

Music

Handler sings a sorrowful tune.

Daniel Handler is an accomplished musician, playing accordion on several recordings with The Magnetic Fields singer and songwriter Stephin Merritt.

Handler was in two bands following college, The Edith Head Trio and Tzamboni, but it wasn't until 69 Love Songs, the Magnetic Field's three-album set, that his music attracted attention. Handler also contributed accordion to a number of tracks in the Magnetic Fields project 69 Love Songs. In the box set of the project, Handler provides a lengthy interview with Merritt about the project, as well as conversations about each song.

He has gone on to play accordion in the Merritt project The Gothic Archies, which provided songs for the audiobooks in the A Series of Unfortunate Events children's book series. On October 10, 2006, an album with all 13 songs from the 13 audiobooks in A Series of Unfortunate Events was released. In the audio commentary on the film version Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Handler plays a song about how depressing it is to have leeches in a film.

Daniel Handler, as Lemony Snicket, wrote the lyrics to the song "Radio", performed by One Ring Zero, and the lyrics to "The Gibbons Girl" by Chris Ewen's The Hidden Variable.

Film

Handler has also had some success in film work. He produced the screenplay for Rick, which was based on the Verdi opera Rigoletto, as well as Kill the Poor, which was based on the novel by Joel Rose.

Handler was involved in the screenwriting process for the film version of A Series of Unfortunate Events, but was ultimately removed from the project. He had completed eight separate drafts of the film before giving up following a change in those who were producing the film. Robert Gordon (screenwriter of Galaxy Quest) was hired to replace Handler and eventually received credit for the film's screenplay, and Handler has noted his pleasure with the film.[citation needed]

Handler did submit a commentary track for the DVD version of the Lemony Snicket film, alongside director Brad Silberling. In character as Snicket, he derides the Snicket in the film - played by Jude Law - as an impostor, as well as choosing to play accordion and sing about leeches rather than pay attention to the film. He also made several interesting comments about the film which include the company Nickelodeon, "being on another planet, I see" when he saw the planets in the Nickelodeon Movies title, commenting that The Littlest Elf has "well-armed friends" when he notices the rifle in one of the elf's hands, as well as being "frightened by the sudden appearance of an eye" when Aunt Josephine looks through her front door's eye hole. At numerous times during the track he comments on the horrible things that are happening to the poor children, and implies that he is being held captive by the director in order to do the commentary.

List of works

This is a partial list of works Handler has created or been involved with. For more information regarding his works as Lemony Snicket, see Lemony Snicket.

Books

As editor or contributor:

  • Nonsense Novels by Stephen Leacock (Introduction) New York Review of Books Classics (2004)
  • Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs and Some Other Things That Aren't as Scary, Maybe, Depending on How You Feel About Lost Lands, Stray Cellphones, Creatures from the Sky, Parents Who Disappear in Peru, a Man Named Lars Farf and One Other Story We Couldn't Quite Finish, So Maybe You Could Help Us Out. by McSweeney's (Introduction and Unfinished story)

Film

Music

References

  1. ^ 667 Dark Avenue: Noble Enough - The Insidious Inquiries: 21 Questions, 21 Answers
  2. ^ CNN.com - Lemony Snicket reaches 'The End' - Oct 5, 2006
  3. ^ WORLD Magazine | Today's News, Christian Views
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel Handler.

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