Speedy Readerville Journal
Most Coveted Covers, No. 177

“The Proust Questionnaire”

You’ve heard of the Proust Questionnaire: “Since July 1993, the back page of Vanity Fair has been devoted to the Proust Questionnaire, in which a noteworthy person answers a series of personal questions. The questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust (1871–1922), the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.” But had you heard about the book? I somehow had not. Assouline, maker of high-end coffee table books, has packaged the archives up in a slender folio: a mere 96 pages, but oversized and wrapped in gold foil-stamped bookcloth. No designer is credited. It’s the sort of totally frivolous book I nevertheless have a hard time resisting when it’s so beautifully produced. But were I to buy it, how would I choose between the blue, the orange, the hot pink and the red?


» talk about it

—Karen Templer is the founder and editor of Readerville. She’s now reading In Hovering Flight.

Posted in: Most Coveted Covers 06.03.08  |  Permalink


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