Peter Eisenman Answers The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition
By Peter Eisenman November 7, 2013
This November marks 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 Peter Eisenman sent in response to the Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition:
1. Of these, your reading preference: fiction; nonfiction; poetry; drama:
Fiction.
2. Your favorite childhood book (or favorite childhood author):
Didn’t read.
9. The best “book as object” you own (how it looks over what it says):
Für die Stimme by Vladimir Mayakovsky.
10. Your reading speed: very slow; slow; moderate; fast; very fast:
Slow.
11. While you read, are you a note-taker? If yes, where do you record your notes:
Yes, in the book itself.
12. Your most idiosyncratic reading habit:
Reading several books at one time.
13. The most expensive book you’ve ever bought (and, if you can remember, the price):
Mayakovsky’s Für die Stimme; $10,000.
14. If you could be any author:
Thomas Pynchon.
17. The last book you bought:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.
18. Your favorite place to purchase books:
Amazon.
19. The book you are currently reading:
Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon.
20. The book you will read next:
The Goldfinch.
21. The current location of the book you will read next:
On my desk (at work).
22. Your favorite format for books: paper or pixels:
Paper!
23. If you could have written any book:
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.
25. If you have the chance to plan it, the last book you’ll read:
Hopefully, one of my own.
Also see “Celebrating a Proust Anniversary with The Proust Questionnaire—Book Edition.”
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