The Interview

Long Answer Type Questions

Answer the following questions in about 120-150 words each: .

1. “Best interviews are considered as an art.” Mention four qualities of such an art. Or
How can we justify the importance of interview in modern world?

Ans. Interviews have become a common place of journalism. Today, almost everybody who is literate
will have read an interview at some point in their lives, while from the other point of view, several
thousand celebrities have been interviewed over the years. Best interviews are considered as an art,
though people have different views about its functions, methods and merits. An interview in its highest
form is a source of truth and in its practice, it is an art. There are people who despise the interview as an
unwarranted intrusion into their lives, or feel that it somehow diminishes them, yet despite the
drawbacks of the interview, it is a supremely serviceable

medium of communication. These days our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries comes
through interviews. Almost everything of moment reaches us through the interview.

2. What is Umberto Eco’s book “The Name of the Rose” about? Why did it become an
unprecedented success?

Or

Why are the journalists and the publisher puzzled at the success of the ‘Name of the Rose’?

Ans. The name of the Rose is different sort of novel. It is a very serious novel. It has a detective yarn at
one level but it also delves into metaphysics, theology and medieval history. Yet it was enjoyed by a
huge mass audience and sold between 10 and 15 million copies. So journalists and publishers are
puzzled because they believe that people like trash and don’t like difficult reading experiences, Umberto
Eco once said that his American publisher liked the book very much but didn’t expect to sell more than
3,000 copies in a country where nobody has seen a cathedral or studies Latin. Moreover, he believes
that if he had written the book ten years earlier or ten years later, it wouldn’t have been the same. Why
it worked at that time is a mystery.

3. The interviewer holds a position unprecedented power and influence. What argumenta does
Christopher Silvester give in support of this statement?

Ans. Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another, Because of
this, the interviewer holds a position of unprecedented power and influence. Today interview has
gained a common place in journalism though the opinions of the interview vary considerably from
person to person but in actuality, it is in its highest form, a source of truth and is a form of art. People
may find drawbacks in an interview, but still it is a supremely serviceable medium of communication.
Our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews. Inspite of these arguments in
favour of the interview some people find it as an intrusion into their lives or feel that it somehow
diminishes them. Some have a horror of the interviewer and others finds it immoral, a crime and like a
thumbprint on their windpipe.
 4. What impression do you form about Umberto Eco as a scholar and writer on the basis of “The
Interview’?

Or

What idea of Umberto Eco do you form from the interview he gave to Mukund Padmanabhan?

Or

Who is Umberto Eco? What are his achievements In the field of literature?

Ans. Umberto Eco is a professor at the university Of Bologna in Italy and had acquired a formidable
reputation as a scholar for his ideas on semiotics (the study of signs), literary interpretation and
medieval aesthetics before he turned to writing fiction. His writing output is also staggeringly large and
wide- ranging which includes literary fiction, academic texts, essays, children’s books, newspapers
articles. He acquired the intellectual superstardom with the publication of The Name of the Rose, which
sold more than 10 million copies. With all these talents, people have the view that he is a man who can
do all the things all together. But Eco feels that he is always doing one thing at a time. Moreover, he
considers himself a professor who writes novels on Sundays. His style of writing is rather simple and
narrative which relates with the common man.

5. Umberto Eco escapes being compartmentalised either as an essayist or as a novelist.’ Discuss.

Ans. Umberto Eco escapes being compartmentalised either as an essayist or as a novelist because he
considers himself as a university professor who writes novels on Sundays. He participates in academic
conferences and not meetings of pen clubs and writers. Moreover his written output is not restricted to
an essay or a novel but is staggeringly large and wide-ranging. He has written literary fiction, academic
texts, essays, children’s books, newspaper articles. His scholarly work has a certain playful and personal
quality which is a marked departure from a regular academic style. It is rather a narrative aspect. He
started writing novels by accident which satisfied his taste of narration. Infact, he is good at both, as an
essayist as well as a novelist.

6. What are the distinctive traits of Umberto Eco’s works?

Or

What has Umberto Eco to say regarding his informal approach of writing? Has he adopted it deliberately
or it comes naturally to him?

Ans. Umberto Eco’s academic writing style is quite distinctive. It has a certain playful and personal
quality about it. It is a marked departure from a regular academic style which is usually depersonalised
and often dry and boring. He considers himself an academic scholar and a novelist. He is a professor
who writes novels on Sundays. In his writing, he has consciously adopted an informal approach. When
he presented his first Doctoral dissertation in Italy, he presented it in a story manner. The professors
appreciated his style of telling the research and get it published in the same manner.

7. Why did Umberto Eco have no difficulty when He started writing novels at the age of 50?

Ans. Umberto’s writing style was distinctive. He wrote his scholarly work in a certain playful and
narrative manner. It was a marked departure from a regular academic style which was invariably
depersonalised and often dry and boring. At the age of 22, he wrote his doctoral dissertation in the
manner of story telling which was much appreciated by his professors. And this was probably why he
started writing narratives or novels at the age of 50 or so. He started writing novels by accident and
novels satisfied his taste of narration. At the age of 22, Eco had understood that scholarly books should
be written by telling the story. This is why his essays always have narrative aspect. This is why when he
started writing novels at the age of 50, narration was nothing foreign to him; he could easily master this
task; novels, after all, are narratives of the events and development of characters.

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