Narcissism, solipsism.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2016 source ↗
The question
Which trait in yourself do you like least?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
View all 239 →My default will always be to go for the worst-case scenario and that is something that I am unlearning.
My intense self-loathing.
I don’t say that I’m perfect but there’s nothing that I deplore.
Bruno Tonioli
Italian choreographer
I don’t think anyone should deplore anything about themselves. You can always improve things, but by deploring you’re putting yourself on a losing streak.
More from Zadie Smith
View profile →Violent death. Death generally.
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.
Oblivious to the event or on the brink of a genuine religious conversion.
Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.
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.
Reading quietly, in high grass, among loved ones (who are also quietly reading). Followed by a boozy lunch.
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