History Literature / LemonySnicketTheUnauthorizedAutobiography

* ArcWords: The pledge of VFD, "The World is Quiet Here".

** The chapter index, which lists a dozen important questions like "who is Beatrice" and "is there anything a concerned citizen can do to help the Baudelaires" but has them all crossed out and replaced with significantly more cryptic questions.

The story begins with a packet of information on reclusive author and fugitive Lemony Snicket changing hands from the aunt of a gentleman, to aforementioned gentleman, to another gentleman as he has no nieces or nephews, to a woman, to a doorman, and then to the people who later gave it to Daniel Handler, who gives the introduction to the Autobiography.

-->-- L. S.

-> ''This obituary is filled with errors - most importantly - I AM NOT DEAD!''
-->-L. S.

*** It seems deliberate, seeing that there is a later photograph showing [[ShowWithinAShow the actor who plays Sebald in a play]] and it's a very young boy. (It is also one of several meta-references to the fact that many of the photographs in the book are stock photos.)

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Apparently Creator/BeverlyCleary, E.B. White, and many other authors were involved with [=VFD=].

Divided into thirteen chapters entitled with questions, which are promptly scratched out and replaced with more relevant (though less illuminating) questions, it does not directly answer them. However, it does offer a lot of behind-the-scenes information on Lemony Snicket and the V.F.D. as a whole. As it was published before the completion of ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', yet dropped several well-buried hints, extremely careful readers were spoiled for the end of the series.

* SongParody: On the pages concerning the ballad "The Little Snicket Lad", Snicket notes that the song seems to have been placed to the tune of "a theme of naval disaster." Sharp-eyed musicians will recognized those notes to be the music of [[spoiler:"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"]].

*** It seems deliberate, seeing that there is a later photograph showing [[ShowWithinAShow the actor who plays Sebald in a play]] and it's a very young boy.

Divided into thirteen chapters entitled with questions, which are promptly scratched out and replaced with more relevant (though less illuminating) questions, it answers none of them. However, it does offer a lot of behind-the-scenes information on Lemony Snicket and the V.F.D. as a whole. As it was published before the completion of ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', yet dropped several well-buried hints, extremely careful readers were spoiled for the end of the series.

* MasterOfDisguise: [[PaperThinDisguise Parodied]] with the Disguise portion of the volunteer training programme. Phase One: Veiled Facial Disguises is simply one person with different expressions. In Phase Two: Various Finery Disguises, a photo of a volunteer, B, with "her actual face and regular clothing"--an attractive young woman in elaborate gypsy attire--is accompanied by a picture of an old man in front of a pickup truck. The label describes B (now calling herself D) as completely unrecognizable with the Various Finery Disguises. [[spoiler:Particularly with the older gentleman standing in front of her.]]

*** It seems deliberate, seeing that there is a later photograph showing [[ShowWithinAShow the actor who plays Sebald in a play]] and it's very a young boy.

* ClandestineCover: The hardcover version had a dust-jacket which could be reversed to a cover of the first book in a fictional series, ''The Luckiest Kids in the World''.

* DawsonCasting: Exaggerated. A part for the play ''The World Is Quiet Here'' which was meant for a six year old had a roughly forty year old man cast instead.

* MasterOfDisguise: [[PaperThinDisguise Parodied]] with the Disguise portion of the volunteer training programme. Phase One: Veiled Facial Disguises is simply one person with different expressions. In Phase Two: Various Finery Disguises, a photo of a volunteer, B, with "her actual face and regular clothing"--an attractive young woman in elaborate gypsy attire--is accompanied by a picture of an old man. The label describes B (now calling herself D) as completely unrecognizable with the Various Finery Disguises. [[spoiler:Particularly with the older gentleman standing in front of her.]]

* ClandestineCover: Some forms of the hardcover version had a dust-jacket which could be reversed to a cover for ''The Littlest Elf''; other forms had a jacket that reversed to the cover of the first book in a fictional series, ''The Luckiest Kids in the World''.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Apparently BeverlyCleary, E.B. White, and many other authors were involved with [=VFD=].

Divided into thirteen chapters entitled with questions, which are promptly scratched out and replaced with more relevant (though less illuminating) questions, it answers none of them. However, it does offer a lot of behind-the-scenes information on Lemony Snicket and the V.F.D. as a whole. As it was published before the completion of A Series of Unfortunate Events, yet dropped several well-buried hints, extremely careful readers were spoiled for the end of the series.

* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay: A letter, supposedly sent from the Duchess R, is filled with errors that she would never have made. [[spoiler:Or, errors she might have made as a coded signal that all was not well.]] [[spoiler:Or, errors she might have made due to disruptions in her training which were caused by constant moving of the V.F.D. Headquarters.]]

** And many of them all link to a single page, which is of a photo that has been burned.

''Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography'' is one of the supplementary materials for ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents''.

* OnlyKnownByInitials: This results in complications during role-calls.

** A photograph, labeled with the name of film director and doctor Gustav Sebald beginning work on the snowman featured in ''Zombies In The Snow'', depicts a young child building a snowman. Whether this is an error or an indication that he directed more than 17 films and earned a doctorate before puberty is unclear, as the members of V.F.D. are quite intelligent.

* TheUnreveal: On the last page, a photograph is burnt to a crisp. The index labels it [[spoiler: Beatrice]].

* SongParody: Sharp-eyed musicians will note that "The Little Snicket Lad" is set to the music of [[spoiler:"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"]].

* ClandestineCover: Some forms of the hardcover version had a dust-jacket which could be reversed to a cover for ''The Littlest Elf''.

* PaintingTheFourthWall: The copyright page and index.
-->''No part of this book may be used, reproduced, destroyed, tampered with, or eaten without written permission except in the case of brief, possibly coded quotations embodied in critical articles, reviews, and subpoenas.''

* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: Not in the exact order. A V.F.D. member lists address books, blueprints, coffee grinders, then proceeds to mention false address books, false blueprints, and false coffee grinders.

* LongList: Several, most notably the one in the transcript of a V.F.D. meeting recited by a nine-year-old member.

* LongList: Several, most notably the one in the transcript of a V.F.D. meeting composed of nine-year-old members.