Skibsrud is the first of AE’s monthly respondants to the Proust Questionnaire.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Feeling unloved; loving and caring for no one.
Where would you like to live?
Tucson, Arizona and Meadowville, Nova Scotia
What is your idea of earthly happiness?
Feeling loved; loving and caring for others.
To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
Impatience and frustration.
Who are your favourite heroes of fiction?
Charles Kinbote, from Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire. "The Man" in Carson McCullers's "A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud."
Who are your favourite characters in history?
John Muir, Hannah Arendt
Who are your favourite heroines in real life?
Muriel Rukeyser, Angela Davis
Who are your favourite heroines of fiction?
Roslyn Tabor from Arthur Miller's The Misfits. Miss Rumphius in Barbara Clooney's Miss Rumphius.
Your favourite painter?
Mark Rothko
Your favourite musician?
Olivier Messiaen
The quality you most admire in a man?
Compassion
The quality you most admire in a woman?
Compassion
Your favourite virtue?
Openness, and a capacity for critical reflection.
Your favourite occupation?
Walking
Who would you have liked to be?
A circus acrobat, or a country music star.
