DS
Peacefully, in good physical health, sound of mind, still active, at a great age, with my children around me.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 26 June 2012 source ↗
The question
What kind of death would you consider a good one?Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
A fixed final question in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire, repeated verbatim across respondent pages.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
View all 43 →
Helena Bonham Carter
Actor
At the right time, and like my father—utterly without fear or pain, at home, with all whom I love. It was his last lesson as a parent to me.
Bonnie Raitt
Singer and guitarist
In my sleep in my 90s, after a great gig.
Terry Pratchett
Novelist
I remember what George said and vowed that rather than let Alzheimer's take me, I would take it. I would live my life as ever to the full and die, before the disease mounted its last attack, in my own home, in a chair on the lawn, with a brandy in my hand to wash down whatever modern version of the "Brompton cocktail" some helpful medic could supply. And with Thomas Tallis on my iPod, I would shake hands with Death.
Recorded
Edited extract from the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, Shaking Hands With Death, Royal College of Physicians, broadcast on BBC1 on 1 February 2010, The Guardian, 2 February 2010
source ↗
Karl Ove Knausgård
Novelist
Self-combusting at a very late age.
More from Danielle Steel
View profile →Healthy, happy children. A wonderful, loving partner with whom to share my life.
Not always standing up for myself enough.
Loyalty, kindness, honesty, trustworthiness, reliability.
The first 10 years of my marriage, when my children were small.
My agent Mort Janklow, Sidney Poitier, and Barbara Walters.
I wish I were braver, although I try. I work too hard and don’t play enough. Too much work ethic, not enough “fun.”
More on death & what remains
- How would you want people to remember you? 213 answers
- How close have you come to dying? 209 answers
- What song would you want played at your funeral? 178 answers
- If you had only one day left, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid? 54 answers
- What do you believe happens when we die? 50 answers
- What would you most want to leave your children? 44 answers
Also answered this
Terry Pratchett, George Saunders, Zadie Smith, Elmore Leonard, Karl Ove Knausgård, Stephen Fry
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All death & what remains questions
- The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject