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Marcel Proust Questionnaire
Kerry:
Marcel Proust Questionnaire
Marcel Proust
1871-1922
Hmmm, does that face look familiar? Jake, are you related to Marcel?
In Andre Maurois’ book, “The Quest for Proust,“ about the famous gay French writer Marcel Proust, he appends a questionnaire, which Proust completed at the age of 20.
Maurois states that, “(Proust’s responses to the questionnaire) reveals, as yet, not hardness or bitterness, but spiritual anguish, latent remorse, an insatiable craving for tenderness, and a desire to be swept off his feet by the strength of his instincts.”
The original questions are listed below, with Proust’s responses in purple. To respond, copy the following into a new post and replace the purple text with your own responses.
Enjoy!
1. 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.
2. What is the quality you most like in a man? Feminine charm.
3. What is the quality you most like in a woman? A man’s virtues, and frankness in friendship.
4. What do you most value in your friends? Tenderness - provided they possess a physical charm which makes their tenderness worth having.
5. What is your principal defect? Lack of understanding; weakness of will.
6. What is your favourite occupation? Loving.
7. What is your dream of 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.
8. What, to your mind, would be the greatest of misfortunes? Never to have known my mother or my grandmother.
9. What would you like to be? Myself - as those whom I admire would like me to be.
10. In what country would you like to live? One where certain things that I want would be realised - and where feelings of tenderness would always be reciprocated. (Proust underlined the last half of this sentence.)
11. What is your favourite colour? Beauty lies not in colours but in their harmony.
12. What is your favourite flower? Hers - but, apart from that - all.
13. What is your favourite bird? The swallow.
14. Who are your favourite prose writers? At the moment, Anatole France and Pierre Loti.
15. Who are your favourite poets? Baudelaire and Alfred de Vigney.
16. Who is your favourite hero of fiction? Hamlet.
17. Who are your favourite heroines of fiction? Phedre (crossed out by Proust) Berenice.
18. Who are your favourite composers? Beethoven, Wagner, Shuhmann (sic).
19. Who are your favourite painters? Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt.
20. Who are your heroes in real life? Monsieur Darlu, Monsieur Boutroux.
21. Who are your favourite heroines of history? Cleopatra.
22. What are your favourite names? I have only one at a time.
23. What is it that you most dislike? My own worst qualities.
24. What historical character do you most despise? I am not sufficiently educated to say.
25. What event in military history do you most admire? My own enlistment as a volunteer!
26. What reform do you most admire? (Proust has left this question unanswered)
27. What natural gift would you most like to possess? Will-power and irresistible charm.
28. How would you like to die? A better man than I am, and much loved.
29. What is your present state of mind? Annoyance at having had to think about myself in order to answer these questions.
30. To what faults do you feel most indulgent? Those that I understand. (“Understand” is underlined by Proust)
31. What is your motto? I prefer not to say - for fear it might bring me ill-luck.
c. “Les Confidances de salon,” published by Lesueur-Damby, 19 rue de Bourgogne, Paris. Property of Mr Edward Waterman.
Kerry:
Here are my responses:
1. What is your most marked characteristic? Introversion.
2. What is the quality you most like in a man? Masculinity.
3. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Femininity.
4. What do you most value in your friends? Unconditional love.
5. What is your principal defect? My introversion. And also setting standards too high for my friends to live up to.
6. What is your favourite occupation? Dreaming.
7. What is your dream of happiness? To live a long, happy, healthy, prosperous life.
8. What, to your mind, would be the greatest of misfortunes? Never to have experienced life as I am presently experiencing it in this incarnation.
9. What would you like to be? A famous painter.
10. In what country would you like to live? Australia.
11. What is your favourite colour? Purple.
12. What is your favourite flower? Gardenia.
13. What is your favourite bird? All the Birds of Paradise.
14. Who are your favourite prose writers? Mary Renault. Annie Proulx. Louise Hay
15. Who are your favourite poets? Kahlil Gibran.
16. Who is your favourite hero of fiction? Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, equally.
17. Who are your favourite heroines of fiction? Mimi and Floria Tosca from the Puccini operas “La Boheme” and “Tosca,” respectively.
18. Who are your favourite composers? Peter Tchaikovsky and Giacomo Puccini.
19. Who are your favourite painters? Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (known as Caravaggio) and Wassily Kandinsky.
20. Who are your heroes in real life? George Chamberlain.
21. Who are your favourite heroines of history? Queen Dido.
22. What are your favourite names? Varies.
23. What is it that you most dislike? Insincerity.
24. What historical character do you most despise? Tomas de Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain.
25. What event in military history do you most admire? Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia.
26. What reform do you most admire? Gay Liberation.
27. What natural gift would you most like to possess? Inspired artistic genius.
28. How would you like to die? At peace, in my sleep, with no regrets.
29. What is your present state of mind? Relaxed.
30 To what faults do you feel most indulgent? I am overly judgmental of others.
31. What is your motto? “It is better to dream one’s life, than to live it.”
injest:
1. What is your most marked characteristic? insecurity and self doubt
2. What is the quality you most like in a man? confidence.
3. What is the quality you most like in a woman? kindness
4. What do you most value in your friends? understanding.
5. What is your principal defect? lack of will power
6. What is your favourite occupation? dreaming
7. What is your dream of happiness? home with ALL my loved ones near
8. What, to your mind, would be the greatest of misfortunes? to die unremembered
9. What would you like to be? happy
10. In what country would you like to live? USA
11. What is your favourite colour? Red
12. What is your favourite flower? Daffodila
13. What is your favourite bird? cockatiel.
14. Who are your favourite prose writers? Mary Renault
15. Who are your favourite poets? don't have one
16. Who is your favourite hero of fiction? Bagoas
17. Who are your favourite heroines of fiction? Brandy
18. Who are your favourite composers? Mahler!!! (if you had asked me six months ago I would have answered 'I don't have one' THANKS ANDREW!!! LOL!!)
19. Who are your favourite painters? Michelangelo
20. Who are your heroes in real life? Garry and Don.
21. Who are your favourite heroines of history? Olympias
22. What are your favourite names? Audrey
23. What is it that you most dislike? cruel gossipy people
24. What historical character do you most despise? Ronald Reagan
25. What event in military history do you most admire? LOL...I am a Texan...HAVE to say the Alamo!!
26. What reform do you most admire? women's rights
27. What natural gift would you most like to possess? Will-power and irresistible charm.
28. How would you like to die? painlessly
29. What is your present state of mind? tired and wondering why I am still up
30. To what faults do you feel most indulgent? eating chocolate to make myself happy!!
31. What is your motto? One foot in front of the other.....one foot in front of the other....
delalluvia:
1. What is your most marked characteristic? Pragmatism
2. What is the quality you most like in a man? The ability and desire to communicate.
3. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Self-respect
4. What do you most value in your friends? Honesty.
5. What is your principal defect? Defect in whose eyes?
6. What is your favourite occupation? Learning.
7. What is your dream of happiness? Freedom from want and fear
8. What, to your mind, would be the greatest of misfortunes? Never to realize any hopes or dreams.
9. What would you like to be? Healthy and wealthy
10. In what country would you like to live? A place where my freedom could not be hampered.
11. What is your favourite colour? No real favorites.
12. What is your favourite flower? Too many to mention
13. What is your favourite bird? Don't know, haven't see them all.
14. Who are your favourite prose writers? Too many to mention.
15. Who are your favourite poets? I have favorite poems, rather than favorite poets.
16. Who is your favourite hero/ine of fiction? Too many to mention
18. Who are your favourite composers? I have favorite compositions rather than favorite composers
19. Who are your favourite painters? Ditto
20. Who are your heroes in real life? I don't have any real life heroes. They are too human and thus eventually disappoint. All my heroes are fictional.
21. Who are your favourite heroines of history? Too many to mention.
22. What are your favourite names? Of what?
23. What is it that you most dislike? Willful blind arrogance and ignorance.
24. What historical character do you most despise? Don't know enough of them to say.
25. What event in military history do you most admire? Ditto
26. What reform do you most admire? Women's rights
27. What natural gift would you most like to possess? Proficiency in a professional field of interest
28. How would you like to die? Peacefully, sound in mind and body
29. What is your present state of mind? Contentment with a touch of excited anticipation (was planning my Paris trip right before taking this poll).
30. To what faults do you feel most indulgent? Those that are difficult to overcome
31. What is your motto? Don't have one
dot-matrix:
Mine Too ;) :
1. What is your most marked characteristic? responsibility
2. What is the quality you most like in a man? Integrity with humor
3. What is the quality you most like in a woman? loyalty
4. What do you most value in your friends? totally non-judgemental acceptance of all my quirks
5. What is your principal defect? My ranging shyness and personal insecurity. I hold myself to a much higher standard than I do those around me so consequently I am always setting myself up for failure in my own eyes
6. What is your favourite occupation? Reading
7. What is your dream of happiness? To live a happy life, surrounded by those I love and to be remembered with love when I am gone.
8. What, to your mind, would be the greatest of misfortunes? Never to have loved or been loved by another human being.
9. What would you like to be? A parent.
10. In what country would you like to live? I am happy in America, but if I needed to chose somewhere else I think I would choose to give Ireland a try.
11. What is your favourite colour? Green.
12. What is your favourite flower? Lilacs.
13. What is your favourite bird? Peacock.
14. Who are your favourite prose writers? Nora Roberts. Annie Proulx. Pearl S Buck and Amy Tan
15. Who are your favourite poets? William Butler Yeats, T. S. Eliot, E. E. Cummings,Edgar Allan Poe,
Emily Dickinson, James Thurber, Edna St Vincent Milay, Maya Angelou, Robert Frost.
16. Who is your favourite hero of fiction? Sidney Carlton in Charles Dickens "A Tale of Two Cities"....."'It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.'"
17. Who are your favourite heroines of fiction? I'm a sucker for all those fairy tales I cut my teeth on so I'd have to say, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel.
18. Who are your favourite composers? Beethoven, Mozart, Berlioz, Rachmanioff, Greig, Mussourgsky
19. Who are your favourite painters? Johannes Vermeer, Monet, Mary Cassatt and Jeffrey Spicer.
20. Who are your heroes in real life? firefighters and our military and all other service people like them who put themselves on the line for us everyday.
21. Who are your favourite heroines of history? Queen Elizabeth the First, Elizabeth's reign was one of the more constructive periods in English history: literature bloomed through the works of Spenser, Marlowe and Shakespeare; Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh were instrumental in expanding English influence in the New World; Elizabeth's religious compromise laid many fears to rest and de-fused a potential powder keg. AND Eleanor Roosevelt, her integrity, her graciousness, and her sincerity of purpose endeared her personally to many--from heads of state to servicemen she visited abroad during World War II. Within a year of the Presidents death in 1945, she began her service as American spokesman in the United Nations. She continued a vigorous career until her strength began to wane in 1962.
22. What are your favourite names? Marie, Justin, Abra, Aubrey, Kyle,.
23. What is it that you most dislike? Meanness in all it's forms.
24. What historical character do you most despise? Hitler, Ida Amin, Pol Pot, Papa Doc and Baby Doc, Mohamed Siad Barre, Sukharno, Duvalier, & Pinochet. and all the other Bloody Dictators who try to climb to power at the expense of and on the backs of their people
25. What event in military history do you most admire? The defeat of Adolph Hitler.
26. What reform do you most admire? The Emancipation of Women and Children, American Civil Rights and Gay Liberation all of which have the same precepts at their heart just one social group at a time.
27. What natural gift would you most like to possess? musical talent, I can't sing worth a darn and can't play a note.
28. How would you like to die? At peace, pain-free, in my sleep, in my own home a very old age.
29. What is your present state of mind? Relaxed.
30 To what faults do you feel most indulgent? I am often impatient and do not suffer fools gladly.Also I can't type worth a penny
31. What is your motto? “It's not rocket science, don't make it harder than it needs to be.”
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