Lemony Snicket has lump of coal for holiday reading
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 | 11:59 AM ET
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
Audio
- Q's Jian Ghomeshi interviews Daniel Handler about A Lump of Coal (Runs: 18:18)
- Play: Real Media »
Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, has moved from A Series of Unfortunate Events to stories about Hanukkah and Christmas. (Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)If the saccharine sentiment of Christmas children's stories wears you down, Lemony Snicket has just the remedy.
The pseudonymous author behind the novels A Series of Unfortunate Events has penned his second holiday book.
And not just any holiday book, but a Christmas story about a walking, talking lump of coal that wants to be an artist.
Snicket's book A Lump of Coal is a response to the relentless cheer of Christmas in North America, said Daniel Handler, the San Francisco-based writer who answers to the name Lemony Snicket.
"There are some good holiday stories. But until now, the din of tedium tends to drown out the whining of genius," he told CBC's Q cultural affairs show.
Snicket began his holiday series with the 2007 book, The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming.
'I prefer the opposite'
Handler said people are attracted to dark and subversive stories this time of year, in part because of the dark and cold outside.
"In real life, I prefer miracles and goodness. In a work of art, I prefer the opposite. I think people often get confused over what they like in one versus the other," he said.
"When you're travelling on an ocean liner, you would prefer it to be iceberg-free. If you're watching a movie about an ocean liner, you would prefer it to run into the iceberg as soon as possible, drowning whatever good-looking actors are aboard."
Children are particularly attracted to a twisting story line — even twists on subjects as upbeat as Christmas, he said.
"What is remarkable about young people is that the second they learn something, they have the ability to subvert it," Handler said.
Handler said he doesn't like to underestimate children's ability to understand humour and dark subjects. Most children have never seen Bela Lugosi perform Dracula, but they are still able to understand the humour of the Sesame Street character, the Count.
"People often say this to me — they say, 'Your references are often aimed at adults.' I say 'If only.' If only we lived in a world where adults would say, 'I believe that's a sly reference to Les Fleurs du mal, the poetic masterpiece of Charles Baudelaire.'"
Children are more accepting of references they don't understand, and more likely to go to the library and look up things they don't know about, Handler said. They also know good story-telling.
"I think holiday stories don't necessarily need to provide lessons and stories and reassurances, but should be entertaining and engaging," Handler said.
"If you set out to teach a moral lesson, you'll probably make a tedious story. If you make a good story, it will probably end up to have a moral lesson."
Share Tools
FILM REVIEW: Men in Black 3 by Eli Glasner May. 25, 2012 11:30 AM Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back in the action sequel Men in Black 3, a third instalment of a series now 15 years old. Though new addition Josh Brolin manages some amazing mimicry as a younger version of Jones, the story doesn't measure up to the weird and wonderful charms of the original, says film reviewer Eli Glasner.
Top News Headlines
- Quebec students to challenge Bill 78 in court
- A collective of student associations, unions and environmental groups is holding a news conference Friday morning to announce their plans to mount a legal challenge against Bill 78. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest

- The difficulty, danger and expense of removing the bodies of climbers who died in Mount Everest's "death zone" mean most of the dead remain on the mountain as a stark reminder to other climbers of the risks. more »
- Foreign investment review threshold rising to $1 billion
- The federal government is raising to $1 billion the amount of foreign money that can go into a Canadian company before the investment is reviewed. more »
Latest Arts & Entertainment News Headlines
- Shakespeare's Winter's Tale gets African reboot
- A Nigerian theatre company is performing an African reboot of The Winter's Tale, one of the lesser known tragicomedies written by the Bard, in London as part of the London Cultural Olympiad. more »
- Elton John cancels Las Vegas concerts over illness
- Elton John is suffering from a serious respiratory infection and has cancelled three Las Vegas performances on doctors' orders. more »
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- Organ donation advocate Hèlène Campbell of Ottawa made her second appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but her first since undergoing a double-lung transplant. more »
- Vancouver Bieber fans in disbelief over tour snub
- Justin Bieber announced yesterday morning the dates of his world tour in support his latest album Believe, but fans in Vancouver were disappointed to see that their city didn't make the list. more »
Q Blog
Toni Morrison on her two selves May. 25, 2012 11:38 AM Jian speaks with the celebrated African American author and academic about her two conflicting selves, and her new novel, Home.
CBC Books
Talking about war May. 25, 2012 11:35 AM The public conversation around war has always been complex and thorny. How does Canada's military approach differ from that of other countries? Are we a society of peacekeepers or warriors? These are some of the questions that Noah Richler explores in his new book What We Talk About When We Talk About War.
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- New mom among dead in Aylmer triple stabbing
- Workers' EI history to affect claim under new rules
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- Conservatives move again to have robocalls suits tossed
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Gatineau police to question man in multiple homicides
- Quebec faces mounting pressure amid student crisis
- SpaceX capsule captured by Canadarm2


