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Few things ring of pretension moreso than invoking the name of one Marcel Proust. Especially since the advent of Little Miss Sunshine, the French novelist’s references in pop culture have flourished (and often incorrectly). Still, those who have tackled bits of his seminal work, À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time), will know why the memory of his description of a madeline moistened by herbal tea remains an unequivocally descriptive tease for famished writers everywhere (not to mention a reminder of our literary inadequacies). Though he lived a short life (1871-1922, dying of pneumonia) Proust’s “definitive” work with evolving the novel influenced many other respected and talented writers, such as Samuel Beckett, Graham Greene, Vladimir Nabokov and Virginia Wolff. For the rest of us (the unwashed masses), Proust’s influence has become perhaps more pervasive than we think, with a version of his “infamous” Questionnaire showing up in various forms all over our cultural landscape.
The origin of the questionnaire
By no means the inventor of the form, Proust did manage to keep its popularity alive. A typical parlor game of the Belle Epoch that was said to help delve into the true expressions and aspirations of those answering it, Proust was first introduced to a form of the questionnaire entitled “An Album to Record Thoughts, Feelings, etc” when he was merely 13 years old. By responding once at that age and again to a slightly different version at the age of 20, Proust was able to chart his own growth and change, and allow us to get a deeper understanding of the man and his preferences. A complete list of his answers to both questionnaires can be found here.
Other versions
The Proust Questionnaire, as it is now called, has enjoyed three major rebirths. The first was from French television host Bernard Pivot, who used a version in the 1970’s-90s at the end of his broadcast Apostrophes, (a show similar to Book TV) in the hopes of allowing writers to reveal parts of their personalities while discussing their own work.
More famously for us Americans is James Lipton’s version used on Inside the Actor’s Studio (where certainly the questions have never been asked with such intensity, I’m sure). A list of his condensed 10 Questions can be found here, and a very special version with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (of the UK Office and Extras) asking the questions to the indescribable Karl Pilkington is also available for free download.
Additionally, since July of 1993, Vanity Fair has published its own version of the questionnaire in its back pages as an interview piece for celebrities, questions from which can be found on this site.
Fun for the whole family
Bored on a rainy day with friends? Looking for something to journal about? Seeing whether your date is worth your time? The Proust Questionnaire is still an interesting way to get to know people better. Anyone willing to share a few of their own answers here?
Here are five questions to get you started…
1) Where would you like to live?
2) Who are your favorite characters in history?
3) Who are your heroes in real life?
4) What is it you most dislike?
5) What natural gift would you most like to possess?
Comments (22)
Comment
1. Japan
2. Rasputin, Teddy Roosevelt, Vlad Tepis, Nikola Tesla
3. Todd Taylor, John Kricfalusi
4. Hypocrisy
5. more self-discipline
posted by ArtF on 2-8-2008 at 12:47 pm
1) Where would you like to live?
No specific place, just one that’s comfortable and near family.
2) Who are your favorite characters in history?
The wives of Henry VIII.
3) Who are your heroes in real life?
My husband.
4) What is it you most dislike?
Liars.
5) What natural gift would you most like to possess?
I love to sing now but I’d like to sing well.
posted by Tricia on 2-8-2008 at 12:51 pm
1. Ireland, where it is green yearround.
2. Characters in history? No idea… history is not my thing.
3. I dont have heros - there are people that I respect, but none that really inspire me
4. People who own Prius’s, so they are allowed to drive in the carpool lane, but then who go 55 miles an hour, so that their fuel economy is at their best
5. A fast metabolism, and an even faster wit
posted by Sarah on 2-8-2008 at 12:52 pm
1. Honestly, anywhere but Ohio. I’ve lived here for all of my life that I can remember, and I’m eager to escape its gravity. Looks like that may happen this summer as my fiance was accepted to law school in New Orleans.
2. Among many others, John Wesley, Marcus Junius Brutus, Charles Frederick Martin
3. Good question; I have no idea. I’m more inclined to obsess over ideas than over people.
4. Poverty. Not poor people, but the condition of poverty, the persistence of systems that perpetuate it, the indifference toward it, and the wholesale inefficacy of popular methods to address it.
5. Insatiable, neurotic ambition, even to the point of going up in flames.
posted by Ira on 2-8-2008 at 1:10 pm
1. Either New Zealand or Austin, actually some place with good Wifi will be all I need.
2. As a history major, this question is ridiculously hard. I suppose if I had to narrow it down: Frederick Barbarossa, Teddy Roosevelt, Vassili Zaitsev, Andrew Jackson, Cincinnatus, the Apostle Paul, and Nelly
3. My parents, who have devoted their lives to visually impaired children.
4. People who fake being deep or intelligent.
5. Other than an extra pair of arms, I wouldn’t mind having a smaller giant ab on the front of my belly
posted by Stu on 2-8-2008 at 1:14 pm
1) Where would you like to live?
somewhere warm, perhaps a sunny isle in Europe.
2) Who are your favorite characters in history?
musicians and composers (i am a musician) and scientists
3) Who are your heroes in real life?
people who struggle against all odds and make something of themselves.
4) What is it you most dislike?
stupidity and irrationality
5) What natural gift would you most like to possess?
be more optimistic
posted by the creature on 2-8-2008 at 1:20 pm
1) Right here
2) Florence Nightingale, Ghandi, Salvador Dali, Rosa Parks, Richard Feynmann
3) fire fighters
4) cockroaches- I mean I REALLY hate them
5)a significantly reduced need for sleep
posted by Lebetho on 2-8-2008 at 1:24 pm
1) Where would you like to live?
I think I’d like to be a California girl ;)
2) Who are your favorite characters in history?
Jesus Christ. No one else even comes a close second.
3) Who are your heroes in real life?
My Dad.
4) What is it you most dislike?
Stereotypes and people who perpetuate them. Also the backlash against stereotypes which results in more stereotyping. It’s an ugly, ugly cycle.
5) What natural gift would you most like to possess? The natural gift to eat pizza every night and still weigh 120 pounds. ;)
posted by Ashley on 2-8-2008 at 1:39 pm
1) Where would you like to live?
–A decent sized urban area with great mass transit, liberal population, and temperate climate. Portland? San Francisco?
2) Who are your favorite characters in history?
–Teddy Rosevelt is very high on my list. Women who fought as men in the Civil War. Josephine Bonaparte. Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
3) Who are your heroes in real life?
–My mom, who got her GED two years before I did (high school is overrated!).
4) What is it you most dislike?
–when money seems to become the root of happiness for people.
5) What natural gift would you most like to possess?
–Social grace.
posted by Jenny on 2-8-2008 at 1:53 pm
1. Vienna, Austria. I lived there for about 4 months in a study abroad program in college and have been dying to get back since.
2. Ferdinand the second (I believe that’s his number…) of the Habsburg family. He was mentally retarded.
3. Anyone who is more dedicated and takes things more seriously than I do.
4. Viciously poor grammar. Mispronounciation of the word “nuclear.”
5. Grace. I wish I were less clumsy and knew what to do with myself all the time.
posted by Fruppi on 2-8-2008 at 2:06 pm
1) Where would you like to live?
Back in New England, probably Vermont. I moved cross country this past summer, and now i just want to go home.
2) Who are your favorite characters in history?
There are many. Basically, those who had a positive vision of what the world could be, and did their part to make their vision a reality.
3) Who are your heroes in real life?
See (2). They’re harder to find now, though…so much has been said that unique voices are harder to find. And when they do come along, they’re usually shouted down by the hordes who revel in the safety of the status quo.
4) What is it you most dislike?
Mean people. Actually, no…what I truly dislike the most is finding myself getting pulled down to the level of the mean people. Like, realizing that I’m driving angry and stopping you from making your lane change because that last guy two miles back wouldn’t let me make MY lane change.
5) What natural gift would you most like to possess?
I’d like to be more patient than I am. And less prone to procrastination. Can I have two?
posted by David on 2-8-2008 at 2:33 pm
Fruppi - Maybe there’s another word that’s spelled “nuculer” that means something totally different…
posted by David on 2-8-2008 at 2:40 pm
David/Fruppi,
Apologies to comment readers for the digression…
English, unlike Latin, is not a monolithic, dead, static language. It is still commonly spoken and is therefore subject to evolution and change. As such, several reputable English dictionaries have recently begun acknowledging “nucular” as an alternate pronunciation.
Incidentally, the mispronunciation has been raising ire since the Eisenhower administration - Bush is just the latest in a line of high profile folks to espouse it. :-)
posted by Ira on 2-8-2008 at 2:47 pm
Thanks for the post, Allison. I’ve never heard of this before, despite “In Search of Lost Time” having just been chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Books by Canada’s Globe and Mail.
My answers:
1. On the east coast.
2. Queen Elizabeth I, Anastasia Nikolaevna, Tommy Douglas.
3. Friends, mentors, cousins.
4. Finding an empty milk jug in the fridge.
5. An impeccable memory and a built-in dictionary.
posted by K on 2-8-2008 at 3:33 pm
1) Europe, I think
2) Favorite! Sojourner Truth and Walt Whitman
3) Oprah, really.
4) When people patronize me.
5) Singing!
posted by Lolita on 2-8-2008 at 4:22 pm
1) Where would you like to live?
Vancouver BC Canada
2) Who are your favorite characters in history?
Gustavus Adolphus, Oliver Cromwell, Isaac Newton
3) Who are your heroes in real life?
Wayne Gretzky, my wife’s grandfather
4) What is it you most dislike?
People who stop in the middle of the hallway to chat with their buddy, without moving to the side.
5) What natural gift would you most like to possess?
Any musical talent, or even just to lose the anti-talent I already have and upgrade to “neither skilled nor unskilled”.
posted by Big Mike on 2-8-2008 at 10:15 pm
1)In one of those English countryside cottages you see in BBC productions
2) Stephen Sondheim, Martin Scorsese, Richard III
3) My family, librarians, teachers
4) People who do not see that everyone has unique gifts
5)Composer/lyricist/film director
posted by Amy on 2-8-2008 at 11:09 pm
1) Where would you like to live? - New Orleans. I have always loved that town and now feel that I could/should do something to help. Unfortunately, hubby and son don’t want to leave NYC.
2) Who are your favorite characters in history? Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, Salvador Dali and Susan B. Anthony.
3) Who are your heroes in real life? My brother in law, a fireman who survived 9-11, my parents and school teachers who really care about their jobs and make a difference.
4) What is it you most dislike? Liars and people who are full of themselves.
5) What natural gift would you most like to possess? To be able to sing, play the drums and drive a stick shift. One at a time would be fine.
posted by Sue on 2-9-2008 at 6:40 am
1. Where would you like to live?–Ireland or New Orleans
2. Fave characters in history?–Jane Austen, Lao Tsu, Einstein, Paramahansa Yogananda, Dalai Lama
3.Heroes?–I don’t really have any heroes, but there are many people that I respect for many reasons.
4. What I most dislike?–liars and shrinkwrap
5. Natural gift I’d like to possess?–Would love to be able to play guitar and sing well.
posted by Katherine on 2-9-2008 at 9:52 am
1. Seattle, Micronesia, or New York
2. Teddy Roosevelt (I notice he’s popular!), Amelia Earheart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
3. My parents (boring, but true), Joan of Arc, and Katharin Hepburn
4. Hang overs
5. Speak at least six languages.
posted by Julia on 2-16-2008 at 10:15 am
Excellent questions (and site)
1. Big Sky Country (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming) or just anywhere but Cali.
2. Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein
3. Frank Zappa, Johnny Cash, Ronald Reagan, Mahatma Ghandi
4. False sincerity
5. The ability to play the blues with the talent of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the vision of Jimi Hendrix,the sincerity of Robert Johnson and the soul of Buddy Guy.
posted by Jesse on 2-16-2008 at 9:10 pm
1) Where would you like to live?
Southern France, in a stone house with a lot of history (and working plumbing).
2) Who are your favorite characters in history?
Lincoln, Einstein, Anna Pavlova, P.T. Barnum’s very special people.
3) Who are your heroes in real life?
Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Christa McAuliff, Michael DeBakey, Golda Meir
4) What is it you most dislike?
People who fabricate themselves into something completely false and devoid of integrity.
5) What natural gift would you most like to possess?
The ability to effortlessly read music or flawless comedic timing.
posted by Cardinal Robbins on 2-18-2008 at 1:14 pm