Christopher Silvester
The interview is an excerpt taken from Christopher Silvester’s book ‘The Penguin Book Of Interviews: An Anthology from 1859 to the Present Day‘. The lesson is divided into two parts. The first part deals with how people, especially celebrities, vary in their opinions on interviews. The second part is an extract from an interview with Professor Umberto Eco. This interview was taken by Mukund Padmanabhan for the newspaper ‘The Hindu’.
Summary (Part I ):
This part offers two distinctive impressions about interviews.
The author introduces the interview as a common feature of journalism. It has occupied a reputed place in journalism since its invention, which was a little over 130 years ago (according to the text). Today, our most vivid impressions about contemporaries are through interviews. But people vary in their opinions on interviews. Some find it in its highest form: a source of truth and in its practice: an art whereas others consider it as an unwarranted intrusion into their personal lives. They also feel interviews either lionize or diminish people’s image or achievements.
The author has enlisted a few writers who despise interviews. V.S Naipaul feels people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves. Lewis Carroll had such a horror of it that he never gave any interview. Rudyard Kipling considered the interview an assault and condemned it as cowardly and vile. Saul Bellow found giving an interview a suffocating experience. He described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe.
The author says despite all its demerits, the interview is a supremely serviceable medium of communication. The interview is the best medium to gather information about the lives of inspiring personalities and contemporary celebrities. The author concludes in the words of Denis Brian, “Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another. Because of this, the interview holds unprecedented power and influence”.
PART I @ a GLANCE
PART II
This part is an extract from an interview of Umberto Eco, an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician and novelist. The interview was taken by Journalist Mukund Padmanabhan for the Newspaper ‘The Hindu’. His novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ is one of the bestsellers which sold more than 10 million copies. Through this interview, we learn that Umberto Eco is a prolific writer who writes academic texts, essays, children’s books and fiction. He shares that though people think that he has written different literary pieces in reality, he pursues his same ethical and philosophical interests through writings that promote non-violence and peace. He tells that he tries to make use of the empty spaces which he calls interstices to his advantage and manages to write a lot. He also adds he considers himself an academician who writes novels on Sundays. On questioning the possible reason for the huge success of his novel ‘The Name of the Rose’, he modestly replies that the success of the book is a mystery. Probably the novel was written at the right time, if he had written the novel ten years earlier or later, it would not have been such a huge success.
GLOSSARY
| Word | Meaning |
| Unwarranted | not justified or authorized |
| Intrusion | interference |
| Lionized | given importance |
| Condemnatory | expressing strong disapproval |
| Unprecedented | that never happened before |
| Dissertation | a long piece of writing about a subject thesis |
| Metaphysics | beyond the world. |
EXTRACT-BASED QUESTIONS:
- Others, usually celebrities who see themselves as its victims, might despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives, or feel that it somehow diminishes them, just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person’s soul
a) Who is the author?
i)Christopher Silverstone
ii) Christopher Silvester
iii)Christopher Sylvester
iv)Christopher Columbus
b) What does the word ‘intrusion’ mean?
i)Interference
ii)Entrance without permission
iii)Entrance by force
iv)All the above
c) Which word means ancient?
i)Despise
ii)Unwarranted
iii)Primitive
iv)None of the above.
d) Why do many see themselves as the victims of an interview?
2. Similarly, we have a lot of empty spaces in our lives. I call them interstices. Say you are coming over to my place. You are in an elevator and while you are coming up, I am waiting for you. This is an interstice, an empty space. I work in empty spaces. While waiting for your elevator to come up from the first floor to the third floor, I have already written an article.
a) Who is ‘I’?
i) The author
ii) Mukund Padmanabhan
iii) Umberto Eco
iv) V.S Naipaul
b) What are the interstices?
i) Open spaces in our life
ii) Empty spaces in our life
iii)Closed spaces in our life
iv) Leisure time in our life.
c) Who is ‘you’?
i) Umberto Eco
ii) Christopher Silvester
iii) Mukund Padmanabhan
iv) Lewis Carrol
d) What did ‘I’ do while waiting for ‘you’?
i) Finished a novel
ii) Written an article
iii) Watched a movie
iv) None of the above
3) Which brings me to my next question. The Name of the Rose is a very serious novel. It’s a detective yarn at one level but it also delves into metaphysics, theology, and medieval history. Yet it enjoyed a huge mass audience. Were you puzzled at all by this?
a) Who is the author of ‘The Name of the Rose’?
i) Christopher Silvester
ii) Mukund Padmanabhan
iii) Lewis Carrol
iv) None of the above.
b) Who is the interviewer?
i) Christopher Silvester
ii) Mukund Padmanabhan
iii) Umberto Eco
iv) Rudyard Kipling
c) How many copies of ‘The Name of the Rose’ were sold?
i) 10 million
ii) Less than 10 million
iii) More than 10 million
iv) 15 million
d) The author of ‘The Name of the Rose’ considers its huge success as ———
i) Result of his hard work
ii) the backdrop of Medieval history
iii) a mystery
iv) result of his unique writing skill
ANSWERS:
1. a) ii) Christopher Silvester
b) iv) All the above
c) iii) Primitive
d) Many, usually celebrities see themselves as its victims, as they consider an interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives or feel that it somehow diminishes them.
2. a) iii) Umberto Eco
b) ii) Empty spaces in our life
c) iii) Mukund Padmanabhan
d) ii) Written an article
3. a) iv) None of the above
b) ii) Mukund Padmanabhan
c) iii) More than 10 million
d) iii) A mystery
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Q 1. How do people vary in their opinion on interviews?
Ans: people vary in their opinions on interviews. some consider interviews as a source of truth. They are the most important means of getting impressions of our contemporaries. They are a supreme serviceable medium of communication. Others despise interviews as they consider them as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives. They feel that an interview diminishes or lionizes them.
Q2. How is the interview our chief source of information about personalities?
Ans: The interview has become a commonplace of journalism. It is the chief source of information about personalities. We get the most vivid impressions of our contemporaries only through interviews.
Q3. How does Eco find the time to write so much?
Ans: Umberto Eco is a prolific writer. He shares that though people think that he has written different literary pieces, in reality, he pursues the same ethical and philosophical interests through writings that promote non-violence and peace. He uses the empty spaces that he calls interstices to his advantage and manages to write so much.
Q4. What was distinctive about Eco’s academic working style?
Ans: Regular academic style of writing is depersonalized, objective, dull and boring. Eco’s academic writing is narrative, personalized and interesting. It’s more like storytelling.
Q5. What is the reason for the huge success of the novel,’ The Name of the Rose’?
Ans: The novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ is a serious detective story that delves deep into mythology and metaphysics. It is set in a period of medieval history but that alone cannot be the reason for its success. Umberto considers the success of the novel as a mystery. probably it was written at the right time. if it would have written ten years earlier or later, perhaps it would not have got the same success
video Link of an interview of Umberto Eco
courtesy: YouTube