Handler Profile

The L.A. Weekly runs a profile of Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket, to coincide with the release of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The newspaper’s Dave Shulman tries to impress Handler:

When talking with an author of books in which prominent characters are named Baudelaire and Poe (and nary a page passes without some further highfalutin cultural or literary reference), one should feel intimidated by the author’s casual brilliance and, despite one’s public school education, try to impress him with the one thing you actually know:

“Baudelaire translated Poe, didn’t he?” I say, as if the thought had just occurred.

“Mm-hm,” Handler replies, duly impressed. “And you’re the first person, ever, to note that. Apart from my editor.”

“Really? Damn I win!”

“I was sure you were going to say, ‘Baudelaire . . . was a French poet, right?’ Then I could say, ‘Wow, you’re so smart for figuring that out. What was it ‘ was it the word Baudelaire that helped?'”

Heh. Read the rest here.