Delhiwale: Nobel winner answers Proust questionnaire

French novelist Annie Ernaux, the 2022 Nobel laureate in literature agreed to be a part of our Proust Questionnaire series in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences

One of the world’s greatest living authors, French novelist Annie Ernaux is in our city to attend the Delhi Book Fair, in which France is the guest of honour. Her answers were translated from French to English by Jayashri Sridharan.

French novelist Annie Ernaux in Old Delhi. (Mayank Austen Soofi/HT Photo)

The desire for perfection.

Vulnerability, rectitude.

Strength, rectitude.

A memory that allows me to walk back in time like one does in a movie.

The trust that they place in me.

My not having told my parents often enough that I loved them.

Reading.

I don’t have one, happiness is a surprise.

French novelist Annie Ernaux is in our city to attend the Delhi Book Fair. (Mayank Austen Soofi/HT Photo)

Losing one of my sons or one of my grandchildren.

A cat.

Nowhere else other than where I currently live, in the suburbs of Paris.

My favourite colour is green and my favourite flower is the lilac.

The robin that comes in winter to peck near the house.

Flaubert, Charlotte Brontë, Proust, Virginia Woolf, Georges Perec.

Victor Hugo, Rimbaud, Apollinaire, Eluard.

Julien Sorel.

Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, Scarlett O’Hara.

Bach, Schubert, Ravel.

Giotto, Gaspard-David Friedrich, Egon Schiele, Chirico, Dorothea Tanning.

All those who fight against hunger and persecution, who manage to survive in the worst possible conditions.

Hitler, Franco, Pinochet.

Louise Michel, Anne Frank.

Cheese and eggs – coffee with milk.

I don’t have any. It depends on the person whose name it is.

Noise arising from human activities, vehicular traffic, air traffic, and noise created by machinery and other devices.

I do not admire any military event.

In historical order: the abolition of slavery, compulsory schooling for all children, legalizing abortion.

Musician.

While making love, even though it may be traumatic for the partner.

Boredom.

I am tolerant of almost all faults, except indifference towards others (humiliation, contempt).

A line from a song by Barbara: Il ne faut jamais baisser les yeux// L’indifférence vaut mieux (Never lower your eyes// it’s best not to care).