Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City, Ransom, Brightness Falls and several other novels, submits to Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire:

Q. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

A. My tendency to exaggerate.

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?

A. Bespoke clothing.

Q. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

A. My tendency to get mistaken for Bret Easton Ellis.

Q. Who are your favorite writers?

A. Fitzgerald, Carver, and Austen.

Q. Who is your favorite hero of fiction?

A. Stephen Dedalus.

Q. What is your most treasured possession?

A. My first edition of The Great Gatsby.

Q. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

A. No wine list.