« One fine April evening, I decided to consult the Marcel Proust questionnaire (as it was known in the English parlours of the XIX century). The version I used differed somewhat from both the classic questionnaire and from the questions my friends (and indeed I myself) had posed before.»
Which three quotes best sum up your life?
— «If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need» (Marcus Tullius Cicero) «The wind cannot be tamed» (Erich Maria Remarque) « In all music is Bach, and is in each of us is God» (Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky)
2. In which city would you like to die?
— Saint Petersburg.
3. Do you fear loneliness?
— I fear being left without it.
4. With which adversary have you been struggling all your life?
— Time. And it always seems to be winning.
5. Which is your favourite garden?
— St Petersburg's Taurian Garden, in May.
6. Which is your favourite park?
— St Petersburg's Pavlovsk Park, in March and September.
7. Which is your favourite colour spectrum?
— For a long time, it was the centre piece of the Bosch triptych. Now, it is Morocco in February, red ochre, silver, emerald, and a fusion of creams – witnessing them is a dazzling experience.
8. What is your deepest disappointment?
— That the Aeaea Islands do not exist.
9. What is your favourite musical composition?
— Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D-major, Rakhmaninov's Concerto No. 2, Shubert's Evening Serenade, John Williams's score for Schindler's List.
10. Which are your favourite artists?
— Leonardo da Vinci, Jan van Eyck, Jeronim Bosch van Aeken, Arkhip Kuindzhi.
11. Which are your favourite poets?
— Joseph Brodsky, Marina Tsvetaeva, Kira Levina, Vera Polozkova.
12. Which character traits interfere in your life?
— Mainly indecisiveness. Also, imagination.
13. What is your main weakness?
— Previously I would have said despondency and pride. Now, mainly the latter.
14. Which famous women's lives inspire you and offer answers to your inner questions?
15. Which famous men's lives inspire you and offer answers to your inner questions?
— Joseph Brodsky, Lev Tolstoy.
16. Who are your favourite literary heroes?
— Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre, Jean Valjean, Jay Gatsby.
17. What is the hardest thing for you to observe?
— My daily routine.
18. What is your greatest fear?
— Old age.
19. What never ceases to amaze you?
— The love of friends and how cut tulips grow in a vase.
20. What does unhappiness mean to you?
— To stop learning.
21. What does happiness mean to you?
— To be wholly useful to the world in accordance with God's plan while surrounded by kindred spirits.
22. What could you not live without?
— Humour and herb tea.
23. What is your favourite holiday?
— Christmas.
24. What is your favourite flower?
— Peony.
25. Which is your favourite month?
— May. The blossoming woods just blow my mind.
26. Is there anything that you look at with disdain?
— Routine. But I've learned to avoid it, and thus my relationship with it has improved significantly. Also, dependence on sleep and food; it is so tedious in its unavoidability.
27. What skill would you like to master?
— Flying a Cessna. This has been my most tempting idea of the last 10 years.
28. What would you fear to lose?
— Rhythm.
29. Your main creative tools?
— My sense of taste and courage of thought; everything else comes second.
30. What inspires you?
— Phenomenal memory and pitch-perfect hearing.
31. To whom would you be merciless if possible?
— To people who throw rubbish out of their car windows and to those who are cruel to animals.
32. Which professional task would you like to complete?
— A triangular object; I have never fully comprehended this shape.
33. What does God mean to you?
— Me and an infinite number of universes. Assuming an extrapolated definition of the premise, naturally