George Saunders
Short-story writer and novelist
Read incorrectly, that sounds like a threat. No thanks, Vanity Fair !
How would you like to die?
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Identity & self
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Identity & self
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
A fixed final question in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire, repeated verbatim across respondent pages.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
In my sleep in my 90s, after a great gig.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 28 September 2022 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 44 →
John Mellencamp
Singer and songwriter
I need a long and lingering death to make sure that I have time to have a deathbed conversion.
John Lewis
U.S. Representative from Georgia, 1987–2020; Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1963–1966
I don't want to die. I don't think I'm going to die…but we all have to die. Since I do, I hope I live on in the hearts and minds of people.
T Bone Burnett
Musician and record producer
I would like to die in good health, at an old age, in a house on a mountain that looks out over the ocean, dreaming about everyone and everything I have had the impossible good fortune to have loved. Maybe Ralph Stanley is singing “Angel Band.”
More from Bonnie Raitt
View profile →As a kid, my summers at camp in the Adirondacks. And as an adult, when I’m onstage.
Dolores Huerta.
Balancing my inner and outer life.
When I’m self-involved or insensitive to others.
That injustice, ignorance, and fascism win.
Being out in a gorgeous natural setting with time to enjoy.
More on death & what remains
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- How close have you come to death? 209 answers
- What song would you like played at your funeral? 178 answers
- If you had only one day left to live, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid doing? 54 answers
- What happens when we die? 51 answers
- What would you like to leave your children? 44 answers
Also answered this
Dolly Parton, Hans Zimmer, T Bone Burnett, John Mellencamp, Rita Moreno, Audra McDonald
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