CHAPTER: 7
The Interview Christofer Silvester
SUMMARY
The
present essay is written in two parts. The first parts deals with the history
of interview and the views of different eminent personalities about it, and
the second part is an extract from an interview of Umberto Eco by Mukund
Padmanabhan.
It
has been more than 130 years since the invention of interview. Today it has
become a commonplace of journalism. There are different opinions regarding
the methods and merits of interview. Some call it an art while others hate it
as an unwarranted intrusion into people’s lives. Several famous personalities
have expressed negative opinions about interview. But in today’s times, it
has acquired a status of immense importance. Interviews provide us the most
vivid impressions of our contemporaries.
In
the second part Umberto Eco tells Mukund Padmanabhan that he is a professor
who writes novels on Sundays. He tells Mukund that he may give the impression
of doing several things at the same time. But he is always doing the same
thing. He works in interstices. He writes in a personal and playful style
which is appreciated by one of his professors. The publication of The Name of the Rose at once
catapulted him to success. The success of the novel is a mystery to Umberto
himself. He attributes the success to its timing.
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Theme
It deals with the methods and merits of interview, and brings to us views
and opinions of different people regarding interview.
Setting
There is no physical background for it. It runs in the abstract form. One
interview of Umberto Eco by Mukund Padmanabhan is given to understand the
pragmatic aspects of interview.
Characters
In the first part there are no characters apart from the views of some
celebrities. In the second part there are two characters-
Umberto Eco – He is a professor at the University of Bologna, Italy. He writes
novels on Sundays. He acquired intellectual superstardom with the publication of
The Name of the Rose.
Mukund Padmanabhan – He is from The Hindu and interviews Umberto Eco.
Main Points
Part I
11. The interview has become a commonplace of journalism.
22. Opinions of interview- of its functions, methods and merits vary
considerably.
33. To some it is a source of truth in its highest form and in practice, an
art.
44. Celebrities despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their
lives or feel that it diminishes them.
55. V. S. Naipaul said that some people are wounded by interviews and lose a
part of themselves.
66. Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice in Wonderland, was said to have had a
just horror of the interviewer and never consented to be interviewed.
77. According to Rudyard Kipling, the interview is immoral; it is just as
much a crime as an offence against a person, an assault; it deserves
punishment; it is cowardly and vile. Yet he perpetrated such an assault on Mark
Twain.
88. H. G. Wells referred interview as an ordeal but was a fairly frequent
interviewee.
99. Saul Bellow described interview as
thumbprint on the windpipe.
110. Despite the drawbacks of interview, it is supremely serviceable medium of
communication. Almost everything of moment comes out through one man asking
questions of another.
Part
II
11. Umberto Eco is a professor, at the University of Bologna in Italy.
22. He has already acquired a formidable reputation as a scholar for his
ideas on semiotics, literary interpretations and mediaeval aesthetics.
33. With the publication of The Name of the Rose, he achieved intellectual
superstardom.
44. Umberto Eco has some philosophical interests and he pursue them through
his academic works and novels.
55. He works in empty spaces which he calls interstices.
66. His scholarly work has a certain playful and personal quality about it.
77. Regular academic style is invariably depersonalized and often dry and
boring.
88. When Umberto Eco presented his first doctoral dissertation, it was
appreciated by his professor and he went on to publish it.
99. At the age of 22, he understood that a scholarly work should be written
by telling the story of research.
110. Eco’s friend Barthes was frustrated that he was an essayist and not a
novelist.
111. Eco never felt any frustration about writing a novel. Rather he started
writing novel by accident.
112. Eco has written five novels against many more scholarly works of
non-fiction but he is known as a novelist than a professor.
113. 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 success.
114. The publishers and the journalists were puzzled at its success because
they believed that people liked trash and not the difficult reading experience.
115. The success of the book was a mystery.
GLOSSARY
Commonplace - Common, Everyday
Unwarranted - Unjustifiable, Insupportable
Despise - Loathe, Hate
Lionize - Idolize, Honour
Vile - Bad, Nasty
Repel - Force back, Push back
Perpetrate - Commit, Perform
Aesthetics - A branch of philosophy dealing of
nature of beauty
Interstices - Gaps, Spaces
Playful - Joking, Frolicsome
Dissertation - Thesis, Essay
Seminal - Important, Influential
Yarn - Narration, Story
Delve - Explore, Investigate
Trash - Waste, Scrap
SHORT
ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. How
does Eco find the time to write so much?
Ans: According
to Eco, there is a lot of empty space in our life. He calls them interstices
and he likes to work in interstices.
This is how he manages time to write so much.
2. What
was distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?
Ans: Eco’s
academic writing style is quite different. Usually an academic work is
depersonalized, often dry and boring but Eco gives it a certain playful and
personal touch.
3. Did
Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist first or an academic scholar?
Ans: Umberto
Eco considered himself an academic scholar first and a novelist next. He
participated in academic conferences and not in meetings of pen clubs and
writers.
4. What
is the reason of the huge success of the novel The Name of the Rose?
Ans: According
to him the success of the novel is a mystery. He thinks that if it had been
published ten years earlier or ten years later, it wouldn’t have been the same.
5. What
is the belief in some primitive cultures about being photographed?
Ans: In
some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic
portrait of somebody than one
is stealing that person’s soul.
6. Why
do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?
Ans: Most
celebrity writers see themselves as victims of interview. They consider it as an
unwarranted intrusion into their lives or feel that it somehow diminishes them.
This is the reason why they despise being interviewed.
LONG
ANSWER TYPE QUESTION
1. Give
a pen-portrait of Umberto Eco.
Ans: Umberto
Eco is a professor at the University of Bologna in Italy and has already
acquired a formidable reputation as a scholar for his ideas on semiotics,
literary interpretation and medieval aesthetics before he turned to writing
fiction. His written output is staggeringly large
and includes literary fiction, academic texts, essays, children’s books,
newspaper articles etc. In 1980 he achieved
superstardom with the publication of The
Name of the Rose. According to him, he works in interstices. His scholarly
work has a certain playful and personal quality about it. He calls himself a
professor who writes novels on Sundays.
