Proust Questionnaire

At the age of 20, Marcel Proust put his own psyche under the microscope by answering questions meant to reveal one’s innermost thoughts. More than a century later, and as demonstrated on V.F.’s back page each month, the “Proust Questionnaire” continues to be a popular method of interviewing. This month, as Assouline publishes The Proust Questionnaire—with personalities such as Lee Radziwill and Diane von Furstenberg providing the answers—we present Proust’s own responses from 1892. [Och mina egna ödmjuka från 2009] Källa.

What is your most marked characteristic?
A craving to be loved, or, to be more precise, to be caressed and spoiled rather than to be admired.
Jag hoppas innerligt att det är livsglädje.

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Feminine charm.
Breda axlar är väl ingen egenskap men det svarar jag ändå.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
A man’s virtues, and frankness in friendship.
Osjälviskhet

What do you most value in your friends?
Tenderness—provided they possess a physical charm, which makes their tenderness worth having.
Humor

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Lack of understanding; weakness of will.
Min benägenhet att kritisera och (för-)döma

What is your favorite occupation?
Loving.
Kan inte välja en. Älskar att sova, att prata, att kramas, att läsa, att sjunga, att lukta på gräs mm.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Not, I fear, a very elevated one. I really haven’t the courage to say what it is, and if I did I should probably destroy it by the mere fact of putting it into words.
Optimism och gudstillit som gift sig med förnöjsamhet.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Never to have known my mother or my grandmother.
Jag har varit kliniskt deprimerad. Det var inte att leka med.

In which country would you like to live?
One where certain things that I want would be realized—and where feelings of tenderness would always be reciprocated.
Sverige.

Who are your favorite writers?
At the moment, Anatole France and Pierre Loti.
Jane Austen och intelligenta men lättuggade deckare

Who are your favorite poets?
Baudelaire and Alfred de Vigny.
Emily Dickinson

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Hamlet.
Gilbert Blythe

Who is your favorite heroine of fiction?
Berenice.
Beatrice i Much Ado...

Who are your favorite composers?
Beethoven, Wagner, Schumann.
Toto och John Rutter

Who are your favorite painters?
Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt.
Gustav Klimt

What are your favorite names?
I only have one at a time.
Mmmm, Mikael...

What is it that you most dislike?
My own worst qualities.
Lever

Which talent would you most like to have?
Willpower and irresistible charm.
Köper willpower jag också. Vad kostar det?

How would you like to die?
A better man than I am, and much beloved.
Snabbt, lätt, mätt på att leva

What is your current state of mind?
Annoyance at having to think about myself in order to answer these questions.
Glad, trött. Stämmer nästan jämt.

What is your motto?
I prefer not to say, for fear it might bring me bad luck.
Vanity never faileth.