Mark Lamster Answers The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition
By Mark Lamster December 13, 2013
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 Mark Lamster sent in response to the Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition:
1. Of these, your reading preference: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama:
Fiction and nonfiction. I don’t discriminate. But at bedtime it’s usually fiction.
2. Your favorite childhood book (or favorite childhood author):
Fly High, Fly Low by Don Freeman.
3. Your favorite book character:
Harry Paget Flashman.
4. Your favorite book title (because you like the sound of it):
An Armful of Warm Girl. And William Spackman doesn’t disappoint.
5. A book you could never finish:
A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander.
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:
The Power Broker by Robert Caro.
9. The best “book as object” you own (how it looks over what it says):
MoMA’s Machine Art catalogue (The Machine: As Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age, 1968) with pressed tin cover.
10. Your reading speed: very slow, slow, moderate, fast, very fast:
Slow.
11. While you read, are you a note-taker?
Generally not. Will often dog-ear a page, however.
15. If you are what you read, the book that best says who you are:
Let’s say, W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz and Woody Allen’s Without Feathers. I’m not so easily circumscribed.
16. Your favorite writer of the gender opposite yours:
Fran Lebowitz.
17. The last book you bought:
North Dallas Forty by Peter Gent.
18. Your favorite place to purchase books:
Any actual brick-and-mortar bookstore.
22. Your favorite format for books:
Hardcover.
24. A book that was particularly meaningful to, or highly recommended by, an acquaintance of yours:
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. High up on my must-read list.
View all Questionnaires.
Also see “Celebrating a Proust Anniversary with The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition.”
Announcements
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Published: June 2020
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By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Forthcoming: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
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By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019
A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.
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By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
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Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
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By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
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