A Series of Unfortunate Events Literary Qualities

This Study Guide consists of approximately 16 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of A Series of Unfortunate Events.

A Series of Unfortunate Events Literary Qualities

This Study Guide consists of approximately 16 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of A Series of Unfortunate Events.
This section contains 1,630 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the A Series of Unfortunate Events Short Guide

On one level, this series is merely a group of crazy, suspenseful adventure stories with young protagonists. On another level, Daniel Handler demonstrates himself to be a twisted, self-aware twenty-first century Dickens, as concerned about the process of storytelling as the story itself. Given that second level, perhaps the most important aspect of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is its literary qualities. The author is clearly playing with language and literary conventions. Irony and satire are typical throughout the narratives, the narrator—Lemony Snicket—is highly unreliable, the reader cannot help but notice all kinds of word play, wildly imaginative descriptions remind the readers that the stories are literature, and the books even bring attention to themselves as books. With this series, perhaps young adult literature goes postmodern.

"A Series of Unfortunate Events" overflows with irony. The first irony is, of course, the narrator's...

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This section contains 1,630 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the A Series of Unfortunate Events Short Guide
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A Series of Unfortunate Events from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.