The Proust Questionnaire — Book Edition

Sagi Haviv Answers The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition

By Sagi Haviv December 9, 2013

Sagi Haviv, Graphic Designer: Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (New York)

This November marked the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first volume of Marcel Proust’s opus, In Search of Lost Time (A la recherche du temps perdu), originally known in English as Remembrance of Things Past. To honor the occasion, we developed the Designers & Books version of the eponymous Proust Questionnaire, which we’ve sent out to various contributors and friends. Rather than including the questions from the original that asked about a wide array of “thoughts and feelings,” our adaptation focuses solely on the respondent’s relationship to books.

View the complete questions asked in The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition

Here are the answers Sagi Haviv sent in response to the Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition:

1. Of these, your reading preference: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama:
Nonfiction.

2. Your favorite childhood book (or favorite childhood author):
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.

3. Your favorite book character:
Raskolnikov in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

4. Your favorite book title (because you like the sound of it):
On Bullshit, by philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt.

5. A book you could never finish:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

7. If for some reason it turned out that you could save one and only one book from among those you own, which would it be:
Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince.

10. Your reading speed: very slow, slow, moderate, fast, very fast:
Moderate.

17. The last book you bought:
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (as a gift).

18. Your favorite place to purchase books:
Barnes & Noble in Union Square (can’t wait for Amazon).

22. Your favorite format for books: paper or pixels:
Paper.

24. A book that was particularly meaningful to, or highly recommended by, an acquaintance of yours:
Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

View all Questionnaires.

Also see “Celebrating a Proust Anniversary with The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition.”

A New Look for Harvard University Press: Q&A with Sagi Haviv and Tim Jones

Seymour Chwast Answers The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition

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