INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW

By

Christopher Silvester

1. What has happened over the last 130 years in respect of the interview?

Ans. Over the last 130 years, the interview has become a commonplace of journalism. Today, almost everybody, who is literate, will have read an interview at some point in their lives. From the other point of view, several thousand celebrities have been interviewed over the years.

2. What are some of the positive views on interviews?

Ans. In its highest form, an interview is said to be the highest source of truth. It is also called a form of art. It is also a supremely useful medium of communication. It leaves on our mind the most vivid impressions of our contemporaries.

3. Why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?

Ans. Most celebrities despise the interview as an unwelcome intrusion into their lives. They feel that it somehow diminishes them. Some even feel wounded by them. They have a horror of the interviewer. Kipling regarded interviewing as immoral as  well as a crime which merits punishment.

4. Despite its drawbacks, what place does the interview have in journalism?

Ans. Though interview has many drawbacks, yet it has become a supremely serviceable medium of communication. It leaves on our minds most vivid impressions of our contemporaries. Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another.

5. What does Christopher Silvester say about the importance of the interview?

Ans. He says that the interview leaves on our minds most vivid impressions of our contemporaries. Today it has become a supremely serviceable medium of communication.

6. What do you understand by the expression ‘thumbprints on the windpipe’?

Ans. The phrase ‘thumbprints on the windpipe' means giving someone a feeling of suffocation and deep pain. Saul Bellow uses this expression to refer to the pressure and discomfort felt by a celebrity while giving an interview.

7. Who, in today's world, is our chief source of information about personalities?

Ans. It is the interviewer who is our chief source of information about personalities.

8. Who was Umberto Eco? What does he say about his novel writing?

Ans. Umberto Eco was a university professor. He writes novels on Sundays. He says that he took to writing novels just by accident. He started writing novels at the age of fifty. He says he wrote novels only in his empty spaces.

9. How does Umberto Eco compare himself as an academic and as a novelist?

Ans. Umberto Eco considers himself as an academic scholar than a novelist. He has written more scholarly articles as compared to novels. He also attends academic conferences rather than Pen Clubs and writers. He calls himself a university professor who writes novels on Sundays. He says that he identifies himself with the academic community and not with the novelist community.

10. Do you think Umberto Eco likes being interviewed? Give reasons for your opinion.

Ans. I think Umberto very much likes being interviewed. He answers each of Mukund's questions very patiently and in an energetic and lively manner. He seems to be enjoying the interview all the time. He doesn't show a trace of impatience or irritation. He also does not seem apprehensive about sharing his secrets, experiences and opinions with the interviewer.

11. How does Eco find the time to write so much?

Ans. Eco says that just like the universe has empty spaces, our lives, too, have a lot of empty spaces or interstices. He says that he makes use of these vacant spaces for his writing. He does not waste this time, instead he uses this time to write.

12. What was unique and distinctive about Eco's academic writing style?

Ans. Eco’s writing style is quite different from that of the standard academic mode. Academic writings are usually impersonal, dull and boring. But Eco's academic writing style was playful. It had a personal quality about it. Even his essays had a narrative aspect. Thus they made an interesting reading.

13. Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist first or an academic scholar?

Ans. Eco considered himself first an academic scholar. He participated in academic conferences. He identified himself with the academic community. He says that he became a novelist by accident. He wrote novels only in his empty spaces.

14. What is the reason for the huge success of the novel, The Name of the Rose?

Ans. Umberto Eco says that the huge success of the novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ is a mystery. According to him it is not possible to know the exact reason behind a book’s success or failure. One can make only wild guesses. He says that the novel became popular because it gave the reader a deep and interesting reading. It was a detective story interwoven with metaphysics, ethics and medieval history.

15. 'The Name of the Rose' deals with medieval history. Was this fact responsible for the novel's success?

Ans. No, the novel’s dealing with medieval history cannot be responsible for its success. Many books had already been written about medieval times. I think the novel became popular because of its deep, varied and thought-provoking material.

16. What did the publisher think of 'The Name of the Rose'?

Ans. Eco said that the publisher, an American lady, loved his book. She said that she did not expect it to sell more than 3,000 copies in a country where nobody has seen a cathedral or studies Latin.. However, in the end, two or three million copies were sold in the U.S.

17. What was the professor's opinion about Umberto's doctoral dissertation?

Ans. The professor said, “Scholars learn a lot of a certain subject and make a lot of false hypotheses, then correct them and finally put the conclusions. But Umberto, according to the professor, had told the story of his research, even including his trials and errors. The professor liked Umberto's doctoral dissertation so much that he went on to publish it as a book. It meant that he appreciated it.  

18. What did Umberto Eco do after dinner?

Ans. Eco watched television at 9 p.m. after dinner. He wanted to see either ‘Miami Vice' or 'Emergency Room'. He said that he enjoyed it and needed it, however not all day.

19. What is 'The Name of the Rose' about?

Ans. The novel, 'The Name of the Rose", is a very serious novel. It is a detective yarn at one level. It also delves into metaphysics, theology and medieval history. It enjoyed a huge mass as it has deep, varied and thought-provoking material.

20. What did Lewis Carroll have a horror of?

Ans. Lewis Carroll had a horror of the interviewer. He never consented to be interviewed. It was his horror of being given great importance to him. So he always tried to repel interviewers and persistent petitioners for his autographs.

21. What is the belief in some primitive cultures?

Ans. In some primitive cultures, it is believed that if one takes a photograph of somebody, then one is stealing that person's soul.