Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
The Proust Questionnaire
For weeks, I’ve felt like someone has handed me a hammer and asked me to peel an apple with it. That’s what going to graduate school in English has been like. This week I learned that the Proust Questionnaire is a thing, a list of questions that Marcel Proust devised to shape his characters that is now commonly used in interviews of famous people and by writers to fill out their characters.
My homework is to complete the questionnaire for each of the two main characters in a story that I am planning for my second course. But before I did that I figured I should try to answer the questions myself.
It was murderously hard to complete. Here goes.
- What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Being physically incapacitated with no hope of recovery
- Where would you like to live? Where I live now – Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Grand Marais, Michigan – and maybe a little cabin on the ocean in the Florida Keys
- What is your idea of earthly happiness? Canoeing with my husband on Grand Sable Lake in Upper Michigan
- To what faults do you feel most indulgent? Fickleness of interest, changing my mind about wanting to do things that minutes ago I was enthusiastic about; worry about improbable things like the ceiling fan becoming unhinged and decapitating all the guests
- Who are your favorite heroes of fiction? Atticus Finch, Randle Patrick McMurphy
- Who are your favorite characters of history? Civil rights leaders like John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X
- Who are your favorite heroines in real life? Gloria Steinem, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama
- Who are your favorite heroines in fiction? Olive Kitteridge (Olve Kitteridge), Jo March (Little Women), Karen Blixen (Out of Africa)
- Who is your favorite painter? Van Gogh, Georgia O’Keefe
- Who is your favorite musician? Willie Nelson; tough question because I am relying on memory
- What is the quality you admire most in a man? Genuine belief that women are equal to men
- What is the quality you admire most in a woman? Solidarity with other women
- What is your favorite virtue? Kindness, assuming honesty is a given
- What is your favorite occupation? Writing and being outside are tied for first place
- Who would you have liked to be? Amelia Earhart, Diana Nyad
- What is your most marked characteristic? Desire for complete self-determination in all things
- What do you most value in your friends? Loyalty and a wicked sense of humor, compassionate cynicism
- What is your principle defect? Wanting to fix things and people
- What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes? Imprisonment
- What would you like to be? I strive to be 100 years old
- What is your favorite color? Rust – like actual rust, iron rust
- What is your favorite flower? Irises, a really lush peony
- What is your favorite bird? Cardinal in the city, Bald Eagle in the country
- Who are your favorite prose writers? Elizabeth Strout, Joan Didion, John Steinbeck
- Who are your favorite poets? Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath
- Who are your heroes in real life? Hillary Clinton, Cecile Richards
- Who are your favorite heroines of history? Harriett Tubman, Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt
- What are your favorite names? JJ, Jannie, Mom, Dr. Wilberg
- What is it you most dislike? People who think hearing loss is funny
- What historical figures do you most despise? The Klan, George Wallace, slave owners
- What event in military history do you most admire? D-Day
- What natural gift would you most like to possess? An ear for music, ability to play music as well as I can type
- How would you like to die? Unexpectedly
- What is your present state of mind? Drifty because of the heat and the gin and tonic
- What is your motto? Better late than never
11 Comments on “The Proust Questionnaire”
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This is a daunting list. I think it would be easier to fill in for my main characters than myself. If I give it a go I will link back here so others can read through your answers as well.
Such fun! I laughed out loud at your answer to “How would you like to die?”
I have never heard of this questionnaire. Interesting answers. So many of yours are similar to mine or absolutely the opposite haha.
Reblogged this on Red's Wrap and commented:
In 2017, I had a brief fling with the idea of getting a graduate degree in English. This was one of the assignments. Try it – it’s pretty challenging.
I had never heard of the Proust Questionnaire. Great questions and fabulous answers. I might give this a try myself.
I would answer several of your questions the same. Women=Men, for sure. And I love Michelle O and admire Hillary for all the good she accomplished in her long career.
Love this! I would also choose Jo March, I think of her often when I write, and my sister’s favorite movie was Out of Africa. Your answers are wonderful! ~Anne
Hi! I found you as a suggested blog under mine.. so good to read another English student’s work! I saw a few characters whose names I didn’t at first recognize. Fun to look those up this morning 🙂 Best wishes for your writing, and thanks for the info on Proust! Becky
Very interesting, both the list and you. But I would find it hard to fill it in for myself.
So interesting. Good to know these things about you.
Like your motto. Mine also. <3