Mandela. Also, artists and painters. I admire people who are creative.
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?
Daily life
Question
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Identity & self
Question
How would you like to die?
Death & what remains
Question
What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
Craft & work
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I feel almost certain I don't know them. It would be one of these types who dedicate their lives to the welfare of others, whereas the people I tend to know are people making stories out of the dramas of themselves.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2016 source ↗
Others on this question
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Rob Delaney
American comedian and actor
Margaret Atwood: she’s an empathic human being who writes books that help me be a better person.
I’m defined as a very strong woman. I don’t identify myself with a specific figure, but I do greatly admire people who manage to persevere with humility through great difficulties.
It will be the one or two or three senior Republican leaders who take a public and forceful stand against the ugly lunacy of the Trump administration.
More from Zadie Smith
View profile →Narcissism, solipsism.
Violent death. Death generally.
Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.
Reading quietly, in high grass, among loved ones (who are also quietly reading). Followed by a boozy lunch.
Oblivious to the event or on the brink of a genuine religious conversion.
Don’t romanticise your “vocation”. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no “writer’s lifestyle”. All that matters is what you leave on the page.
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