Zadie Smith Answers the Proust Questionnaire

From Vanity Fair:

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Reading quietly, in high grass, among loved ones (who are also quietly reading). Followed by a boozy lunch.

What is your greatest fear? Violent death. Death generally.

Which historical figure do you most identify with? Aspirationally speaking, Virginia Woolf and Zora Neale Hurston.

Which living person do you most admire? I feel almost certain I don't know them. It would be one of these types who dedicate their lives to the welfare of others, whereas the people I tend to know are people making stories out of the dramas of themselves.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Narcissism, solipsism.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? The same.

What is your favorite journey? Any walk through Rome.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Patriotism. Ideological consistency.

More here. [Thanks to Amitava Kumar.]