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Mon April 21, 2014
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The Proust Questionnaire, with Elizabeth Greene
Submitted by Grace on July 30, 2014 - 12:54pm
Poet, professor and editor Elizabeth Greene's newest book of poetry Today Elizabeth speaks with Open Book as part of the Proust Questionnaire series. The questionnaire was not invented by Marcel Proust, but it was a much loved game by the French author and many of his contemporaries. The idea behind the questionnaire is that the answers are supposed to reveal the respondent's "true" nature. In her answers to the Proust Questionnaire, Elizabeth tells Open Book about the underside of history, her heroes both in the pages and in real life, and a great bookish motto. What is your dream of happiness? What is your idea of misery? Where would you like to live? What is your chief characteristic? What is your principal fault? What is your greatest extravagance? What do you value most about your friends? What characteristic do you dislike most in others? What characteristic do you dislike most in yourself? What is your favourite virtue? What is your favourite colour? What is your favourite flower? What is your favourite bird? What historical figure do you admire the most? What character in history do you most dislike? Who are your favourite prose authors? Who are your favourite poets? Who are your favourite heroes in fiction? Who are your heroes in real life? Who is your favourite painter? Who is your favourite musician? What is it you most dislike? What natural talent would you most like to possess? How do you want to die? What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? What is your motto? Elizabeth Greene has published two previous collections of poetry, The Iron Shoes (2007) and Moving (2010). She edited and contributed to We Who Can Fly: Poems, Essays and Memories in Honour of Adele Wiseman (1997), which won the Betty and Morris Aaron Prize for Best Scholarship on a Canadian Subject. She has edited/co-edited four other books, and her poetry and fiction has also been published in journals and magazines across North America. She taught English for many years at Queen’s University, and was instrumental in introducing Creative Writing into the English Department and helped to found Women’s Studies. Her poetry was a finalist for Descant/Winston Collins Prize for Best Canadian Poem, 2010, 2012. She lives in Kingston with her son and three cats. Check out all the Proust Questionnaire interviews in our archives. Related item from our archives |
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