As a professor of English, on sabbatical this semester, Dr. Grieve-Carlson gives us his answers to the Proust Questionnaire.
What is your most marked characteristic?One of the things I do most often is breathe.
What do you most value in your friends?
Their sensibilities
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Predictability
What is your favorite occupation?
Rewarding work
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being alone with my wife in a place we love
In which country would you like to live?
Canada, New Zealand, United States
Who are your favorite writers?
Yeats, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Charles Olson
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Job in The Book of Job.
Who is your favorite heroine of fiction?
Demeter in The Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
What are your favorite names?
Gus. Emily.
What is it that you most dislike?
Cruelty, callousness, smug superiority, the suffering of the innocent.
Which talent would you most like to have?
empathy
How would you like to die?
peacefully
What is your current state of mind?
thankful
What is your motto?
It changes regularly, but today I like this sentence from a letter by James Salter to his friend Robert Hughes: “We must catch the train, Robert, we must move, otherwise life takes you, makes you soggy. We’re wearing cheap shoes, we must stay ahead of it.”
