The Proust questionnaire

Since I am still sort of "starting over" with this blog, I thought I should repost the old blog below for new readers, since it is pretty much all most of you will ever want to know about me.

For reasons no longer pertinent, I decided a while back to fill out the notorious “Proust Questionnaire” – the list of questions the novelist answered at a party when he was in his 20s. A version of the questionnaire is often asked of a celebrity in Vanity Fair magazine. Now, if all goes well with my life I shall never be on the back page of Vanity Fair, but that doesn’t mean I can’t test your patience here and now. This is probably more about me than you’ll ever want to know….

What is your most marked characteristic?

Decisiveness and will

What is the quality you most like in a man?

Humility

The quality you most like in a woman?
Loyalty

What do you most value in your friends?

The ability to point out my flaws with kindness

What is your principle defect?

Pride

What is your favourite occupation?

Writing, or chopping wood – but favourite activity is skiing

What is your dream of happiness?

No need to dream, I live it every day

What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?

Losing my memories, even the bad ones

What animal would you like to be?

A tiger

In what country would you like to live?

Grande Siecle France or Edo period Japan

What is your favourite colour?
Black

What is your favourite flower?

Rose

What is your favourite bird?

Phoenix

Who are your favourite prose writers?
Conrad, Gogol, Kafka, Willa Cather, Gaddis

Who are your favourite poets?

Auden, Lermontov, Ronsard, Keats, Akhmatova, Aphra Behn, Rilke, Blake, Edith Sitwell

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?

Feanor in The Silmarillion (warning: he is me)

Who are your favourite heroines of fiction?

Imogen (from Cymbeline), Rebecca West (in Rosmersholm), Beatrice Rappaccini (Rappaccini’s Daughter),Angellica Bianca (in The Rover), Emily St Aubert (Mysteries of Udolpho), Lois Lane, Cinderella

Who are your favourite composers?

Bach, Telemann, Purcell, Haydn, Mozart, Copland, Shostakovich

Who are your favourite painters?

Sargent, El Greco, Turner, Rembrandt, Vrubel

Who are your heroes in real life?

Horatio Nelson, Jose Ortega y Gasset, Cincinnatus, Ernest Shackleton, Saladin, Chuck Yeager, Basil II Bulgaroctonus ("the Bulgar-killer"), Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Who are your favourite heroines of history?

Lou Salome, Margaret of Anjou, Mary Queen of Scots, Helen of Troy, Emmy Noether, Jane Jacobs

What are your favourite names?

Women: Siobhan, Isabeau, Cassandra, Elizabeth, Vanessa, Lucy, Callista, Priya, Suki, Rebecca, Citlali, Rosamund, Emily, Katinka

Men: John, Santiago, Eamonn, Stephen, Laszlo, Andrew, Ethan, Alistair

What is it you most dislike?

Disrespect

What historical figures do you most despise?

Stalin, Robespierre, Luigi Cadorna, Iwane Matsui, Donald Trump

What event in military history do you most admire?

Battle of Verneuil, 1424.

What reform do you most admire?

Edict of Milan

What natural gift would you most like to possess?

20/20 eyesight

How would you like to die?
In aerial combat.

What is your present state of mind?

Restless

To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
In others? Jealousy

What is your motto?
Sursum corda.