Proust/Afinogenov

This week the enigmatic Greg Afinogenov discloses his innermost by answering our version of the Proust Questionnaire. See,

Briefly Introducing Greg Afinogenov

Greg Afinogenov is a graduate student in an unknown discipline at an undisclosed location [history, Harvard ---ed.]. He is an editor of Correspondence and has published translations and essays

Greg Afinogenov Answers the Proust Questionnaire

Your favorite virtue.
Perspective.

Your favorite qualities in a man.
Subtlety.

Your favorite qualities in a woman.
Precision.

Your chief characteristic.
Uncertainty.

What you appreciate the most in your friends.
Sangfroid.

Your main fault.
Self-delusion.

Your favorite occupation.
Omphaloskepsis.

Your idea of happiness.
Progress.

Your idea of misery.
Stagnation.

If not yourself, who would you be?
Peter the Great.

Where would you like to live?
Wherever you go, there you are.

Your favorite prose authors.
Musil, Sterne, Cortazar, Dovlatov.

Your favorite poets.
Tu Fu, Alexander Pope, John Ashbery (?).

Your favorite heroes in fiction.
Fabrizio from The Charterhouse of Parma, but I don't remember why. Ulrich from The Man Without Qualities. Zhuge Liang from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Your favorite heroines in fiction.
Ayn Rand.

Your favorite painters and composers.
Hubert Robert, not applicable.

Your heroes in “real life.”
Peter the Great (?), Georges Brassens.

What characters in history do you most dislike?
John Locke.

Your favorite names.
Helmut, Elodie.

What do you hate the most?
Self-delusion.

What military event do you admire the most?
Jan Zizka's campaigns against the Holy Roman Empire (15th century).

What reform do you admire the most?
The American Revolution.

The natural talent you’d like to be gifted with.
Charisma.

How do you wish to die?
Quickly.

What is your present state of mind?
Anxious.

For what fault do you have the most toleration?
Pedantry.

Your favorite motto.
"inter faeces et urinam nascimur" or "parturient montes, nascitur riduculus mus"