Paris writer Anne Marsella, author of The Baby of Belleville, Remedy, Patsy Boone and The Lost and Found and Other Stories, had the excellent idea of asking Paris-based writers to answer the Proust Questionnaires.
Succinct, personal and slightly whimsical, these interviews offer a glimpse into the personality and work of writers who have made Paris their home. This week, Anne administers the Proust Questionnaire to Heather Hartley.
"If you go to the Monday night readings at Shakespeare and Co. chances are you've seen poet Heather Hartley on stage, both reading her work and presenting other writers. Heather is the author of KNOCK KNOCK, a highly praised poetry collection and finalist in the National Poetry Series. Curator of Shakespeare and Co.'s reading series and Paris editor of Tin House, Heather's generous and vibrant presence in Paris' literary scene make her the perfect candidate for the Proust Questionnaire!"
Proust Questionnaire with Heather Hartley
1. When were you happiest?
Now.
2. What is your principle defect?
Impatience.
3. What makes you depressed?
When there is no milk for morning coffee.
4. What is your favorite word?
Wrigley’s Spearmint gum.
5. What is your most unappealing habit?
Using my credit card at post-holiday sales.
6. What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Les macarons Ispahan at the Pierre Hermé pastry shop on rue Bonaparte in Paris. (Although toasted sesame H & H bagels with cream cheese come sinfully close too.)
7. Who are your favourite writers?
Dorothy Parker, John Donne, Boris Vian, Jeanette Winterson, Dr. Seuss, Leo Tolstoy, David Sedaris, Charles Baudelaire, Emily Dickinson, Giacomo Leopardi, Grouch Marx, Honoré de Balzac, Breyten Breytenbach, among many others.
8. What is the worst job you’ve ever done?
The worst (and best) job I’ve ever done was shucking frozen shrimp in a warehouse at 8:00 a.m. for three months. The worst because dealing with slow-thawing seafood in early morning hours was really unappetizing and the best because I learned that with nothing more than two lettuce leaves, a half-dozen nude pink prawns and a little ingenuity, you can make a miracle.
9. What do you most value in friends?
Understanding.
10. What gift would you most like to possess?
Besides a large collection of designer boots, patience, patience and more patience.
11. What is your most treasured possession?
My family.
12. If you cold edit your past, what would you change?
I would have started drinking coffee earlier in life.
13. If you could go back in time, where would you go?
Back to the flea market at the Porte de Vanves last month. I should have really bartered more for those two cinema chairs.
14. What is your greatest fear?
In the words of Aretha Franklin when asked the same question, “My lips are sealed.”
15. What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Patience, patience and more patience.
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Knock Knock
www.heatherhartleyink.com
Heather Hartley is Paris Editor for Tin House magazine. Her poems, essays and interviews have appeared in Tin House, Mississippi Review, Post Road and other magazines, and numerous anthologies, including Food and Booze: A Tin House Literary Feast; and Satellite Convulsions: Poems from Tin House. She lives in Paris, where she curates Shakespeare & Company Bookshop’s weekly reading series, and teaches creative writing and poetry at the American University of Paris.
Anne Marsella is the author of four books: The Baby of Belleville, Remedy, Patsy Boone and The Lost and Found and Other Stories. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies both in the US and in France. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize nomination, the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award (New York University Press) and several residency fellowships. Her novel, Patsy Boone, was written directly in French and published by Editions de la Différence. Having taught literature and creative writing at the American University of Paris and associate directed New York University’s Writers in Paris program, she currently directs the Wells College Arts in Paris program
