[Answer the Proust Questionnaire]
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On Mon, 14 Apr 14 06:51:49 UTC Mason Walker (21) answered the Proust Questionnaire (click on a question to read other answers):
- What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
- Any kind of misery that cannot be articulated in words---and thus cannot be redeemed.
- Where would you like to live?
- In a pretty patch of country just outside the dazzling city.
- What is your idea of earthly happiness?
- Someone to love, something to pet (preferably a dog), and some work of art to get lost in.
- To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
- An inability to stop stuffing my face with food, and an affinity for lying in bed all day.
- Who are your favorite heroes of fiction?
- From the page: Cyrano De Bergerac, Leopold Bloom, Samwise Gamgee, Milkman Dead. From the screen: Rick Blaine, John Harper, Sam Shakusky.
- Who are your favorite characters in history?
- For their virtues: Abraham Lincoln, WEB Dubois, Oskar Schindler. For his incomparable vices: Henry VIII.
- Who are your favorite heroines in real life?
- My mother.
- Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
- From the page: Elinor Dashwood, Margaret Schlegel, Dilsey, Pilate Dead. From the stage: Ensign Nellie Forbush. From the screen: Pearl Harper, Suzy Bishop. And, if we’re being completely honest, Yentl.
- Your favorite painter?
- Edward Hopper.
- Your favorite musician?
- Classical (composers): Wolfgang Mozart. Britten, when I’m at my most Anglophilic. Classical (singers): Jessye Norman, Pavarotti. Pop: Streisand, Sarah Vaughan. Rock: Van Morrison. If he’s not “rock” enough to qualify, then I’ll go with Springsteen.
- The quality you most admire in a man?
- A dash of madness, a love of living, a hunger for truth.
- The quality you most admire in a woman?
- A dash of madness, a love of living, a hunger for truth---and, God bless them, the patience to put up with men.
- Your favorite virtue?
- Pardon the cliche: Love.
- Your favorite occupation?
- Expression.
- Who would you have liked to be?
- A slightly more patient version of myself, with less hair and better posture.
- Your most marked characteristic?
- A need to please everyone, regardless of all their incompatible needs.
- What do you most value in your friends?
- Oh, for God’s sake. We’ve been over this. A dash of madness, a love of the living, a hunger for truth.
- What is your principle defect?
- Poor time management. I doubt if I could organize my way out of a paper bag.
- What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?
- To never know how to express anything.
- What would you like to be?
- Proust’s original answer is absolutely unbeatable; “Myself, but as those whom I admire would like me to be.”
- What is your favorite color?
- Blue, because it’s so much more than a color.
- What is your favorite flower?
- I know nothing about flowers, but I have had some pretty enjoyable encounters with dandelions, so we’ll go with that.
- What is your favorite bird?
- The toucan—God’s gentlest, greatest joke.
- Who are your favorite prose writers?
- I’d be halfway to dying without Joyce, Woolf, Lawrence, Forster, Updike, Morrison, and Didion. I admire Shakespeare most of all, but, exempting Midsummer Night’s Dream, I don’t LOVE him as I should.
- Who are your favorite poets?
- I DO love Virgil as much as I should. Also, some Keats, some Dylan Thomas. Robert Penn Warren means a lot to me. Dorothy Parker also has a special, bottle-shaped place in my heart.
- Who are your heroes in real life?
- My teachers—a broad category that includes instructors, professors, family, friends, and artists.
- Who are your favorite heroines of history?
- Above all: Marie Curie, Harriet Tubman. Also, Sappho, Eleanor Roosevelt, Katharine Hepburn, Barbra Streisand.
- What are your favorite names?
- Sophie, Sadie, Jamie. God help me if I have a boy.
- What is it you most dislike?
- Apathy. Apathy. Apathy.
- What historical figures do you most despise?
- Adolf Hitler, Bashar Al-Asssad. The lesser demagogues as well: Rush Limbaugh, Al Sharpton. Peter Singer also comes to mind.
- What event in military history do you most admire?
- Any event that stopped a conflict before shots were fired.
- What natural gift would you most like to possess?
- Charm. A lot more compassion. A little bit more range in my singing voice, and in my writing one.
- How would you like to die?
- Coherent and calm, in my own home, without any great regrets, and with a loved one holding my hand.
- What is your present state of mind?
- I’ve yet to take my routine shower, so my mind is as unkempt as my hair.
- What is your motto?
- “A dime held close to the eye eclipses the sun. Even if our lives are insignificant, we must live them as if they are not.”—John Updike.
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