Proust Questionnaire

I love my Vanity Fair Magazine. I buy it every month and the first thing I do is flip to the back page, see what celebrity has been asked to fill out the Proust Questionnaire and I dig right in. Sometimes I'm annoyed at the vague answers, the one word answers or at the questions that were not included this month. Other times, I'm pleasantly surprised at the honesty of some answers or how elaborate the celebrity decides to be. As I read the one page article, my mind often wanders at the thought of how much time it must have taken this particular person to answer (no interview is done, the questions are often emailed to the celebrity now). Is it always really honest? Can we be honest with ourselves when we know thousands of people will be reading this? This is the problem with writing, especially if you are into sharing! How raw can it be without exposing your innermost secrets or without hurting someone you love?
Marcel Proust was a novelist that loved to play a Parisian parlor game with his elite crowd. One of his friends, Antoinette Faure, and daughter of the the 19th century French president, Felix Faure, decided to keep a journal where the friends answered questions that were meant to be personal and take the "psychic measure". Proust published his answers to the questionnaire taken at age 14 and 20 and the questionnaire became popular with the masses known as the "Proust Questionnaire". Vanity Fair has taken on the game since 1993 and just recently published a book with the answers of 101 celebrities, including, Larry King, Martin Scorsese, Quincy Jones, Johnny Cash, Yoko Ono, and Ellen DeGeneres, to name a few.
I remember a bit ago that I filled out, "25 Random Things About Me" on Facebook. A lot of my friends played the game and I became a little bit obsessed with the obsession of public questionnaires. What makes us want to share the idea of perfect happiness? What makes us want to know someone's current state of mind? The parlor game must have meant to be a real conversation starter when there was no "American Idol" to discuss the following day at work. What makes public questionnaires so appealing and successful?
I won't find the answer to this question but I am good at filling out questionnaires. And I always wanted to fill out this particular one...the Proust Questionnaire. Feel free to take a few of these questions, answer them on my comment space. I'd love to read your answers too!
1)What is your idea of perfect happiness? Silence and a good book. Children laughing. Red wine and chocolate and conversation with friends.
2) What is your greatest fear? To lose someone I love. Dying without finishing what I have to do!
3) Which living person do you most admire? My father and my husband. For proving that hard work and determination gets you to places.
4) What is the trait you most deplore in others? Rudeness. Ignorance.
5) What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Impatience and talking out of turn.
6) What is your greatest extravagance? Books and a once a week cleaner!
7) What is your favorite journey? Tokyo
8) What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Punctuality, but only when I'm the one that's late.
9)On what occasion do you lie? White lies, or to ease an uncomfortable moment.
10) What do you dislike most about your appearance? My left eye.
11) Which living person do you most despise? Drug traffickers. All of them. Those who do not respect human life.
12) Who is the greatest love of your life? My son and my husband.
13) When and where were you the happiest? July 17, 2004 in Chicago and February 13, 2007 in Tokyo
14) What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Illness and being homeless and poor.
15) Where would you like to live? Wherever Jose wants to live.
16) What is your favorite occupation? Mother, teacher, wife.
17) What is the quality you most like in a man? Courage and ambition.
18) What is the quality you most like in a woman? Confidence and compassion.
19) Who are you favorite writers? All those that I read.
20) How would you like to die? In bed 60+ year from now.
Favorite Motto: "Sometimes we have to change who we are to become who we will be."
xoxo,
Betty