I'd rather have past participle than have past participle-is such structure possible?

[JACEK1]

Hello everybody!

Suppose I am afraid of one person and try to avoid greeting him by all means.

Could I say?

I'd rather have been devoured alive by a hungry lion than have greeted him last Saturday.
(the same meaning could be epressed as "I'd prefer to have been devoured alive by a hungry lion rather than have greeted him last Saturday")

Thank you.

 

[Tarheel]

Just say you are avoiding him.

I'd rather to have been devoured alive by a hungry lion than to have run into him last Saturday.
(the same meaning could be epressed as "I'd prefer to have been devoured alive by a hungry lion rather than to have run into him last Saturday")

Or:

I'd rather to have been devoured alive by a hungry lion than to have had to speak to him last Saturday.
​

You could of course say eaten rather than devoured.

 

[Rover_KE]

On this occasion I disagree with Tarheel.

I prefer your version:

'I'd rather have been devoured alive by a hungry lion than have greeted him last Saturday'.

 

[Raymott]

I'd be interested to know where "I'd rather to have been..." is used. Maybe it's a regional variant.

 

[Tarheel]

I certainly have had that experience of knowing somebody I'd rather not talk to.

:-o

 

[emsr2d2]

I like all of it except "greet/greeted/greeting". I would just use "talk to" or "deal with" or similar.

For info, "I'd rather to have been ..." is entirely unnatural in my variant of English too.