Trillium Book Award Author Readings June 16

The Proust Questionnaire, with Dane Swan

 
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Bending the Continuum, Dane Swan's first collection of poetry in print, has just been released with Guernica Editions. Slave to no genre, this collection moulds its own darkly humorous reality from influences as diverse as Roddenberry, the Can. Lit. canon, the Harlem Renaissance, hip-hop and the Caribbean oral tradition of Griotism.

Dane Swan was born and raised in Bermuda to a Bermudian father and Jamaican mother. Visiting family involved trips to small villages in Jamaica like Yallas and Land’s End, or to New York communities like Crown Heights in Brooklyn. The great story-tellers he heard in these communities were his only literary professors. At age 17, Dane moved to Canada with his brother to further their education. His poetry can be found on CD, 12” Vinyl, MP3, in anthologies and in poetry reviews. In his answers to the Proust Questionnaire, Dane tells us his greatest accomplishment, his motto, his idea of misery and more.

The Proust Questionnaire was not invented by Marcel Proust, but it was a much loved game by the French author and many of his contemporaries. The idea behind the questionnaire is that the answers are supposed to reveal the respondent's "true" nature.

_________________________________

What is your dream of happiness?
A peaceful, comfortable, life surrounded by loved ones.

What is your idea of misery?
Being surrounded by incompetent people.

Where would you like to live?
Anywhere I am loved.

What qualities do you admire most in a man?
Honesty.

What qualities do you admire most in a woman?
Honesty.

What is your chief characteristic?
Honesty.

What is your principal fault?
Honesty.

What is your greatest extravagance?
My second acoustic guitar.

What faults in others are you most tolerant of?
Stupidity.

What do you value most about your friends?
Compassion.

What characteristic do you dislike most in others?
Deceit.

What characteristic do you dislike most in yourself?
Finances.

What is your favourite virtue?
What few virtues I have I respect equally.

What is your favourite occupation?
Writing.

What would you like to be?
A Professor / Author.

What is your favourite colour?
Red.

What is your favourite flower?
Easter Lily.

What is your favourite bird?
Bermuda Longtail.

What historical figure do you admire the most?
Langston Hughes.

What character in history do you most dislike?
Anyone tied to the slave trade.

Who are your favourite prose authors?
Tolkien, Achebe, Dick, Maugham, etc.

Who are your favourite poets?
Hughes, Shakur, Frost, etc.

Who are your heroes in real life?
My father.

Who is your favourite painter?
Daser, Dixon and various other graffiti writers.

Who is your favourite musician?
Bob Marley.

What is your favourite food?
Jerk Chicken.

What is your favourite drink?
Gosling’s Black Seal Rum.

What are your favourite names?
Daniel and Clara.

What is it you most dislike?
Racist people.

How do you want to die?
Old enough to have grandchildren who can remember me.

What is your current state of mind?
Cynical.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
Publishing my first book.

What is your motto?
You are the only person who can decide that you can be successful.

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For more information about Bending the Continuum please visit the Guernica Editions website.

Buy this book at your local independent bookstore or online at Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.

Check back for more Proust Questionnaires with Canada's literati in this latest series of interviews on Open Book.

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