Literal and conceptual anagram in TBL
This is the great theme of Beatrice's letters and it is clear that this derives from the multiple meanings of the word "letter".
The two main meanings are:
1 - a symbol usually written or printed representing a speech sound and constituting a unit of an alphabet
2 - a direct or personal written or printed message addressed to a person or organization
Daniel Handler's idea was to create a work in which these two meanings of the word letters could be used to form anagrams, literal and conceptual anagrams. We see that this was his idea when we read BB to LS # 2:
"The wooden box on your desk marked" letters "is full of letters. But all the letters are jumbled together, and I cannot determinie what the letters would spell if I put them in the proper order. The only letter missing is the one I sent you. Either it never arrived or you took it with you. "
I think these are one of the coolest parts of TBL. Beatrice Jr logically uses and takes advantage of the multiple meaning of the word "spell" in line with the multiple meaning of the word "letter". This is beautiful. Note these two definitions of "spell" that I would like to highlight:
1 - to make up (a word).: What word do these letters spell?
2 -: to add up to: mean; to communicate or convey (as an idea) to the mind. .: "Crop failure was likely to spell stark famine." .: "That summertime combination of hot temperatures and equally hot tempers can spell trouble."
In other words, Beatrice could be saying that she was unable to spell out the different possible literal anagrams formed by a set of letters (A - Z) in a box, or she could be saying that there were several messages written in a box, which could mean several different things depending on the order and premises you decide to adopt. And the fact that Daniel Handler chose these words for Beatrice Jr to write, only highlights his intention to create multiple meanings for TBL.
Now, note Lemony's letter to the Editor. Lemony wrote:
"... The Beatrice letters could explain the beatrice letters and even the letters of Beatrice, no matter which letters they are, and no matter what order the letters are in. I immediately began work on the file."
When quoting the order of letters, Daniel Handler makes a clear allusion here to anagrams. After that, Lemony wrote:
"For many years I thought if I collected all thesse letters and their accompanying ephemera - a phrase witch here means" documents and items which I feared had vanished, and may soon vanish again "- I could put all of them in the proper order, as if solving anagram by putting all of the letters in the right order.But letters are not letters, so the arrangement of letters is not as simple as the arrangement of letters, and even if it were, the arrangement of these letters could spell more than one thing, just as there is more than one Beatrice, and so the mystey could become two mysteries, and each of these mysteries could become two mysteries, until the wole world is engulfed in mysteries, as it is now. "
(It is interesting that after this passage I found a message from Daniel Handler for me. He said to me:
"No matter what documents you investigate, and what objects you retrieve, you NEVER ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT ARE MOST IMORTANT TO YOU." )
This consideration shows that the beauty of TBL is to try to form literal and conceptual anagrams, and not to discover which of the meanings is right.
stormborns
yousharknotpass
snowghoul
theartofmadeline
kaledo-art
andulkaphoto
vaporwave
areudirty
