The Interview

THINK AS YOU READ

Q1. What are some of the positive views on
interviews?
Ans: The positive views on interviews are that it is a medium of
communication and a source of truth and information. Some
even look at it as an art. These days we know about the
celebrities and others through their interviews.
Q2. Why do most celebrity writers despise being
interviewed?
Ans: Most celebrity writers despise being interviewed because
they look at interviews as an unwarranted intrusion into their
lives. They feel that it diminishes them. They feel that they are
wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves. They
consider interviews immoral and a crime, and an unwanted and
unwelcome interruption in their personal life.
Q3. What is the belief in some primitive cultures
about being photographed?
Ans: Some primitive cultures consider taking a photographic
portrait is like stealing the persons’s soul and diminishing him.
Q4. What do you understand by the expression
‘thumbprints on his windpipe’?
Ans: Saul Bellow once described interviews as being like
‘thumbprints on his windpipe’. It means he treated interviews as
a painful experience, as something that caught him by his
windpipe, squeezed him and left indelible thumbprints on that. It
also means that when the interviewer forces personal details
from his interviewee, it becomes undesirable and cruel.
Q5. Who, in today’s world, is our chief source of
information about personalities?
Ans: The interviewer is the chief source of information in today’s
world. Our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are
based on communication that comes from them. Thus,
interviewers hold a position of power and influence.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
Q1. Do you think Umberto Eco likes being
interviewed? Give reasons for your opinion.
Ans: Umberto Eco does not think highly of interviewers who he
thinks are a puzzled bunch of people. He has reasons for
thinking so as they have often interpreted him as a novelist and
clubbed him with Pen Clubs and writers, while he considers
himself an academic scholar who attends academic conferences
and writes novels on Sundays.
Q2. How does Eco find the time to write so much?
Ans: Eco humorously states that there are a lot of empty spaces
in his life. He calls them ‘interstices’. There are moments when
one is waiting for the other. In that empty space, Eco laughingly
states that he writes an article. Then he states that he is a
professor who writes novels on Sundays.
Q3. What was distinctive about Eco’s academic
writing style?
Ans: Umberto’s writings have an ethical and philosophical
element underlying them. His non-fictional writing work has a
certain playful and personal quality about it. Even his writings
for children deal with non-violence and peace. This style of
writing makes reading his novels and essays interesting and
being like the reading of most academic writings. His works are
marked by an informal and narrative aspect.
Q4. Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist
first or an academic scholar?
Ans: Umberto identified himself with the academic community, a
professor who attended academic conferences rather than
meetings of Pen Clubs. In fact, he was quite unhappy that the
people referred to him as a novelist.
Q5. What is the reason for the huge success of the
novel, The Name of the Rose?
Ans: The success of The Name of the Rose, though a mystery to
the author himself, could possibly be because it offered a
difficult reading experience to the kind of readers who do not
want easy reading experiences and those who look at novels as
a machine for generating interpretations. For the same reason,
the sale of his novel was underestimated by his American
publishers, while the readers actually enjoyed the difficult
reading experience that was offered bv Umberto Eco by raising
questions about truth and the order of the worid.
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Q1. Why did Lewis Carroll have a horror of the
interviewer?
Ans: Lewis Carroll was said to have had a just horror of the
interviewer. It was his horror of being lionized which made him
thus repel would-be acquaintances, interviewers, and those
seeking his autographs. So, he never consented to be
interviewed.
Q2. How did Rudyard Kipling look at interviews?
Ans: Rudyard Kipling condemned interviews. His wife writes in
her diary that Rudyard Kipling told the reporters that he called
being interviewed as immoral and a crime like an offence
against any person. It merited punishment. It was cowardly and
vile.
Q3. How were Rudyard Kipling and H.G. Wells
critical of interviews yet they indulged in
interviewing others or being themselves
interviewed?
Ans: Rudyard Kipling criticized interviews yet he interviewed
Mark Twain. H.G. Wells referred to an interview in 1894 as an
ordeal. Yet he was a fairly frequent interviewee. He also
interviewed Joseph Stalin forty years later.
Q4. How are interviews, despite their drawbacks,
useful?
Ans: Despite their drawbacks, interviews are a supremely
serviceable medium of communication. We get ‘ our most vivid
impressions of our contemporaries through interviews. Denis
Brain writes that almost everything of moment reaches us
through interviews.
Q5. What, according to Umberto Eco, is the one
thing he does through his various pieces of writing?
Ans: According to Eco, he is always pursuing his ethical,
philosophical interests which are non-violence and peace,
through his academic work, his novels and even his books for
children. He uses his spare moments constructively.
Q6. Umberto Eco tells Mukund that he has a secret.
What is that?
Ans: Umberto Eco tells Mukund that he has a secret to reveal.
He tells him that there are empty spaces in the universe, in all
the atoms. If they are removed, the universe will shrink to the
size of a fist. He calls these empty spaces interstices and he
writes in these interstices.
Q7. How, according to one of Eco’s professors in
Italy, do scholars do in their research? How is Eco’s
approach different?
Ans: According to one of Eco’s professors in Italy, scholars made
a lot of false hypotheses. They correct them and at the end they
put the conclusion. But Eco told the story of his research and
included his trials and errors. His professor allowed the
publication of Eco’s dissertation as a book.
Q8. What did Umberto Eco learn at the age of 22
that he pursued in his novels?
Ans: At the age of 22, Umberto Eco understood that scholarly
books should be written the way he had done, that is, they
should be written by telling the story of the research. He means
to say that they should have the narrative technique. That’s why
he started writing novels so late—at the age of 50.
Q9. How did Eco start writing novels?
Ans: Eco states that he started writing novels by accident. One
day, he had nothing to do, so he started writing. He felt that
novels probably satisfied his taste for narration and he produced
five novels, including the famous The Name of the Rose.
Q10. Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist
first or an academic scholar? Discuss briefly.
Ans: Umberto Eco considered himself an academic scholar, a
university professor who wrote novels on Sundays. If somebody
said that he was a novelist, that bothered him. He participated
in academic conferences and not the meetings of Pen Clubs and
writers. He identified himself with academic community.
Q11. What makes Eco’s The Name of the Rose a
very serious novel?
Ans: The Name of the Rose is a very serious novel. It is a
detective story at one level but it also delves into metaphysics,
theology and medieval history. Due to these reasons it was
greatly received by the public.
Q12. What, according to Eco, puzzles journalists
and publishers?
Ans: According to Umberto Eco, journalists and publishers are
puzzled when something unexpected happens. They believe that
people like trash and do not like difficult reading experiences.
But Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose, a serious work, sold
between 10 and 15 million copies. This puzzled them.
Q13. What is the reason for the huge success of the
novel, The Name of the Rose?
Ans: The reason for the huge success of the novel, according to
Eco, is a mystery. Nobody can predict it. He states that if he had
written the novel ten years earlier or ten years later, it wouldn’t
have been the same. So, the time component, its narrative
technique, its aspects of metaphysics, theology and medieval
history, made it a grand success.
Q14. Do you think Umberto Eco likes being
interviewed? Give reasons for your opinion.
Ans: I think Eco likes being interviewed. His answers to
Mukund’s questions are straightforward, precise and to the
point. They are never wavering. He even mentions his
preferences about TV shows. While answering he gets humorous
and laughs. Nowhere does he say anything that may give us this
sort of glimpse that he does not like being interviewed.
Q15. Is Umberto’s informal style consciously
adopted or natural?
Ans: Umberto’s doctoral thesis was a story of his research and a
sum of his experience, his trials and errors. The thesis was
appreciated and published as a book. Umberto then developed
on his taste for narration and this narrative aspect lends an
informal touch to all his essays and novels. It makes his style
alive and reading his works is not dry and boring like the reading
of other academic works.

Q16. Why did Umberto take to writing novels?

Ans: Umberto took to writing novels to satisfy his taste for
narration. He did not have even a single novel to his credit, till
the age of 50. One day having nothing to do, he started writing
a novel. Moreover, he thought that novels have more readership
and he could reach a larger audience.
Q17. What made Roiand Barthes frustrated? What
did he want to do?
Ans: Eco s friend Roland Barthes was an essayist. He was not
satisfied fully with his scholarly essays. He yearned to do some
creative writing. He remained frustrated that he was as essayist
and not novelist. But, unfortunately he died before he could do
so.
Q18. How did Umberto Eco become spectacularly
famous?
Ans: Umberto Eco had earned a good reputation in the field of
semiotics or the study of signs. His scholarly works were
staggeringly large and wide ranging. But his spectacular fame
came to him with his novel The Name of the Rose which stormed
the world and sold more than 10 million copies.
Q19. What sort of TV programmes does Eco watch
after dinner and why?
Ans: After dinner, Eco watches light television programmes like
Miami Vice and Emergency Room. These programmes do not tax
his mind and he feels relaxed after a hard, day’s work. But he
cannot watch such programmes the whole day.
Q20. Bring out Umberto Eco’s humility and
modesty as evident in the chapter.
Ans: Umberto Eco takes success in his stride and talks about his
achievements in all modesty. He very humbly gives credit to the
people’s capability of appreciating difficult reading experiences.
Regarding doing so many things, he tells that it a fallicious
impression, but at the end of the day, he is doing the same
thing.
The Interview Important Questions CBSE
Class 12 English
1. Answer each of the following questions in about 30-40 words:
Question 1.
Why did Umberto Eco prefer himself to be called an academician than a
novelist?
Answer:
Despite achieving fame as a novelist, Eco preferred to associate himself
with the academic community because his non-fictional work occupied
him for the first fifty years of his life. He wrote his first novel at the age of
around fifty. He identified himself more with the academic community
and resorts to writing fiction only when he’was not pursuing some
scholarly work.
Question 2.
Why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?
Or
What are the views of writers like V.S. Naipaul and Lewis Carroll on
interviews? (
Answer:
Celebrities like V.S. Naipaul, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll and H.G. Wells
have expressed their strong despise for interviews. They consider
interviews immoral -‘an assault’ because they feel interviews leave a
rather disparaging effect on their personalities and are an encroachment
on their privacy.
Question 3.
What was unique and distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?
Or
What do you learn about Umberto Eco’s distinctive style in his doctoral
dissertation?
Answer:
Umberto Eco’s academic writing style is personal, informal and playful.
He fills his research stories with all the trials and errors so that even his
research work has the uniqueness . of creative writing and reading. It is
not only informative but also interesting.
Question 4.
State the reason for the huge success of the novel, “The Name of the
Rose”.
Answer:
There is no one reason for the huge success of the novel “The Name of
the Rose’. Umberto Eco himself calls its success a mystery. It is possible
that this detective story that delved into metaphysics, theology and
medieval history, interested the readers because the time in which it was
written was most appropriate, neither a decade earlier nor a decade later.
Question 5.
“The Name of the Rose” deals with medieval history. Was it responsible
for the novel’s success? (
Answer:
The success of the novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ did not depend on
merely one factor. Many other novels dealt with medieval history but did
not achieve much success. Its success is more attributed to the timing of
its publication, its narrative style and detective yarn and also the fact that
it delves into metaphysics and theology along with medieval history.
Question 6.
What did the publisher think of ‘The Name of the Rose’?

Answer:
The American publisher of ‘The Name of the Rose’ loved and liked the
novel but did not expect to sell more than 3,000 copies. No one goes to a
cathedral or studies Latin in America so it was really difficult to sell such a
novel there. But the publisher was proved wrong as two to three million
copies of the novel were sold in America.
Question 7.
What drawbacks of interviews have been pointed out by Lewis Carrol?
Answer:
Lewis Carrol considers interviews as an ‘unwarranted intrusion’ that is
immoral and an offence against his person. He shunned interviews for
fear of being projected as larger than life. His vehement refusal for
interviews
enabled him to keep his fans as well as interviews at an arm’s length.
Question 8.
Why do most celebrity writers hate to be interviewed?
Answer:
Most of the celebrity writers shun interviews as they feel that interviews
leave a disparaging effect on their personalities. They consider them as
an encroachment on their privacy. Writers like V.S. Naipaul feel they are
being wounded by interviews and thus losing a part of themselves.
Question 9.
How did Lewis Carroll react to the interviews?
Or
What was Lewis Carroll’s attitude towards being interviewed?
Answer:
Lewis Carrol shunned interviews for the fear of being projected as larger
than life. He vehemently refused to give interviews and kept his fans,
acquaintances and interviewers at an arm’s length. This give him a great
sense of satisfaction.
2. Answer each of the following questions in about 125-150 words.
Question 10.
What made the American publisher think that the novel ‘The Name of the
Rose’ won’t sell in America? What actually happened? What was the
secret of its success?)
Or
What is the reason for the huge success of the novel “The Name of the
Rose” according to Umberto Eco?
Answer:
The American publisher believed that people like trash whereas ‘The
Name of the Rose’ delved into metaphysics, theology and medieval
history and people do not like these difficult reading experiences.
Through his novel, which sold between 10 to 15 million copies, Umberto
Eco reached only a small percentage of readers. But, according to him, it
is those kind of readers who do not want easy experiences, or at least, do
not always want this. Umberto Eco cannot categorically state the reason
for the huge success of the novel, ‘The Name of the Rose’. He himself
refers to its success as a mystery. He feels this detective story that
delved into metaphysics, theology and medieval history interested the
readers as it was written at the most appropriate time. Had it been
written a decade earlier or later, it would not have been so successful.
The way the book stormed the literary world, once it was out, surprised
everyone. Even though it contained somewhat heavy reading, the book
attracted a mass audience and Eco became famous as a novelist, rather
than an academic scholar the world over.
Question 11.
What do you think about Umberto Eco? Does he like being interviewed?
Give reasons in support of your answer from the text ‘The Interview’.
Answer:
Unlike various other celebrities who express a strong dislike for interviews
and consider it an encroachment upon their privacy, Umberto Eco seems
to kind of enjoy giving interviews considering the spirited manner in
which he answers the questions put forth to him by the interviewer,
Mukund Padmanabhan. Eco readily and truthfully answers all the
questions in the most humble and sincere manner, delving into details,
thus revealing the fact that he actually does not mind sharing his
experiences with others. At no point does he display any kind of haste to
wind up the interview. In fact, he explicitly answers all the questions that
Padmanabhan asks him giving the interviewer a feeling of warmth and
being welcome.
Question 12.
Why did Umberto Eco start writing novels and when? What does Eco say
about the huge success of his novel, ‘The Name of the Rose’ in spite of it
being a difficult and very serious novel?
Answer:
Umberto Eco was essentially an academician who pursued his scholarly
pursuits through academic writings. He wrote about forty non¬fictions
and as he himself says, ‘he became a novelist by accident’. That was the
reason he started writing novels at the age of almost fifty. Eco considers
himself ‘a university professor who writes novels (only) on Sundays’. He is
not even very sure about any one single reason for the huge success of
his novel ‘The Name of the Rose’. He feels perhaps the timing of the
novel’s publication was the most important factor of its success. The fact
that at one level it appears to be a detective yarn but also delves into
metaphysics, theology and medieval history also adds to its appeal.
Though the novel is quite a heavy reading experience, it attracted a mass
audience and made Eco popular more as a novelist rather than an
academic scholar.
Question 13.
What impression do you form about Umberto Eco as a scholar and writer
on the basis of ‘The Interview’?
OR
What was distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?
Answer:
Umberto Eco’s style is narrative, written in the manner of a story. This is
in contrast to a regular academic style which is invariably depersonalised,
dry and boring. His scholarly work has a certain playful and personal
quality to it. He pursued his philosophical interests through his academic
work and novels. He also wrote books for children on non-violence and
peace.
Umberto Eco, a professor at the University of Bologna, in Italy, is an
authority on Semeiotics, the study of signs. He is also a well known
novelist. His scholarly works include academic texts, essays, childrens’
books and newspaper articles. He pursues his philosophical interests
through his academic writings and novels. In spite of having reached the
zeniths of intellectuality, Eco is a humble and modest scholar. He brushes
aside compliments and never boasts about his achievements. He is keen
to share his experiences with others and shares the secret of
accomplishing so much work by revealing the facts that he makes use of
time- gaps between different pieces of work. Eco follows an informal and
playful style of writing with a narrative aspect. Even his research work
has a quality of creative writing and makes informative as well as
interesting reading.
Question 14.
Eco’s academic work has certain playful and personal quality about it.
Comment.
Answer:
Eco presents his arguments very logically and with a subtle wit and
playfulness to it. He himself says that he started writing novels by
accident. He essentially considers himself a university professor who
wrote novels on Sunday. This non-fictional writing is a marked departive
from the regular depersonalised style which is often dry and boring. Even
his research work has the quality of creative writing and makes not only
information but also interesting reading. In his doctoral dissertation, Eco
tells the story of his research including his trials and errors. His: essays
too always have a narrative aspect.
Question 15.
Umberto Eco is an academic as well as a famous novelist. Comment.
Answer:
Despite getting famous as a novelist, Umberto Eco always associated
himself with the academic community. He has written only five novels as
compared to the forty scholarly works of non-fiction. He considers himself
as a university professor who writes novels on Sundays. When he
presented his first Doctoral dissertation in Italy, one of the professors was
impressed by the way he told the story of his research, including his trials
and errors. His essays always have a narrative aspect. He started writing
novels quite late, at the age of 50, by accident to satisfy his taste for
narration.
Question 16.
Why do some celebrity writers not like being interviewed?
Answer:
Some celebrities see themselves as victims, and despise the interview as
an unwarranted intrusion into their lives. They 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’. V.S. Naipaul feels that ‘some people are wounded by
interviews and lose a part of themselves’. Lewis Carroll says that he has
‘just a horror for the interviewer’ and he never consented to be
interviewed. Rudyard Kipling expressed an even more condemnatory
attitude towards the interviewer. His wife reports her husband as saying
that he considered an interview as a crime and immoral and thus it merits
punishment.