RUNGTA PUBLIC SCHOOL, BHILAI

“Year of Reimagining”
Class: XII NOTES Subject: English

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The Interview
Short Answer Type Questions and Answers:

Question 1. Other than celebrities, what do some people think about an

interview?
Answer: Other than celebrities, mostly common persons think that an interview
is the only and best source of truth. It according to them, is an art.

Question 2. In which way do the celebrities take an interview?

Answer: Celebrities find themselves as victims, they take interview as an
unwarranted intrusion into their lives which somehow diminishes them.

Question 3. What did ‘Caroline’, the wife of ‘Rudyard Kipling’ write in her
diary?
Answer: Caroline wrote that two reporters from Boston destroyed their whole
day on 14 October, 1892.

Question 4. Who described interview like thumbprints on his windpipe and

why?
Answer: ‘Saul Bellow’ once described interviews as being like thumbprints on
his windpipe because he became exhausted by the interviewes.

Question 5. How Umberto Eco managed to write too much in his life?
Answer: Umberto Eco started to utilize interstices: the empty space which
according to him is enough with everyone.

Question 6. How can we say that Umberto Eco had a wide range of writing?
Answer: Umberto Eco was an expertise in semiotics and other than this he
started to write fiction, literary fiction, academic texts, essays, children’s books,
newspaper articles etc. So his versatility in writings can be easily understood.
Question 7. What made ‘The Name of the Rose’ a hugely successful novel?
Answer: According to Umberto Eco, the most possible reason about the success
of the novel was a time’s mystery and actually nobody could predict the exact
reason of it.

Question 8. What is Umberto Eco’s theory of interstices?

Answer: Umberto Eco says about the elimination of empty spaces from the
universe, from all the atoms and then the universe would become as big as his
fist.

Question 9. How many copies of the novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ were sold?
Answer: More than 10 million copies of the novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ were
sold.

Question 10. How and when did Umberto Eco start to write novels?
Answer: Umberto Eco started to write novels accidently at the age of 50. Then
only on Sundays, he used to write the content of the novels.

Question 11. Umberto Eco does many things, but says, “I am always doing the
same thing but that is more difficult to explain”. What does he mean to say?
Answer: Umberto Eco says that he has philosophical interests which reflect in
all his writings : fiction and non-fiction. In this way, he does the same thing,
though he seems to pursue various activities : writing notes for newspapers,
novels, teaching, writing essays, children’s books etc.

Question 12. Despite the drawbacks, the interview is a ‘supremely serviceable

medium of communication’. Explain.
Answer: Despite its drawbacks, the interview has its own advantages. Though,
interview is an intrusion into the personal life of the interviewee, it is always a
supremely serviceable medium of communication. Through the interviews only,
we get vivid impressions of our contemporary celebrities. We get a glance of
their way of working.

Question 13. What are some of the positive views on interviews?

Answer: Interview is considered as a reliable source of truth. Contemporaries
and their success can be read through the interviews. A very important part of
journalism is interviewing now a days.

Question 14. Why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?

Answers: Most celebrity writers despise being interviewed because they have
faced the fright of interview. Among them, interview is regarded as an
unwarranted entrance into their privacy.

Question 15. What is the belief in some primitive cultures about being
photographed?
Answer: Some primitive cultures believe that a person’s soul is stolen if he or
she is photographed.

Question 16. What do you understand by the expression “thumbprints on his

windpipe”?
Answer: “Thumbprints on his windpipe” expresses the block,age to any
person’s freedom and privacy. It can be considered as a suffocation felt by the
interviewees.

Question 17. What in today’s world, is our chief source of information about
personalities?
Answer: In today’s world, our chief source of information about personalities is
an interview.

Question 18. Do you think Umberto Eco like, being Interviewed? Give reasons
for your opinion.
Answer: Umberto Eco surely likes being interviewed as a part of his interview
is presented in this chapter. He answers every question asked by Mukund and
never frustrates and criticizes the interview like many other celebrity writers.

Question 19. How does Eco find the time to write so much?
Answer: Umberto Eco uses each and every moment of time. Even he is capable
to utilize the little space between different acts. So, he calls it as usage of
interstices; the management of time.

Question 20. What was distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?
Answer: Eco’s academic writing style can be said as narrative which is
personalised and interesting. Eco’s writing style is not dull and boring; different
from others.

Question 21. Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist first or an academic
scholar?
Answer: Umberto Eco firstly considered himself as an academic scholar
because he was a professor and wrote many academic texts while he wrote his
first novel at the age of 50 accidently.
Question 22. What is the reason for the huge success of the novel, The Name of
the Rose?
Answer: The Name of the Rose is a serious detective story but delved into
metaphysics, theology and medieval history. The novel got a huge success and
the reason Umberto Eco assesses is its favourable publication time.

Long Answer Type Questions and Answers:

Question 1. Give a character sketch of Umberto Eco on the basis of the chapter
‘The Interview’.
Answer: Umberto Eco, a university professor at the university of Bologna in
Italy, is an academician and a famous novelist. He, through various interview
discloses his secret of success in life and never hates the interviewers. He has
his taste in various fields of writings as academic texts, fiction and non-fiction,
literary fiction, essays, children’s books, newspaper articles etc.

He always wanted to be called as an academician not a novelist. He used to

participate in academic conferences, on the other hand, he avoided the meetings
of writers and Pen Club Members. He has written forty scholarly works and
novels only five. He used to denote time for writing novels on only ‘Sundays’.
He discovered a magical trick of working in interstices.

He used to use even the seconds of his time. He captured the empty spaces for
writing notes or any content. He had an expertise in ‘Semiotics’: the study of
signs. He never became a slave of proud as he openely admitted that his novel
‘The Name of the Rose’ got success accidently and the time was in his favour.
He didn’t have any attitude of the celebrity though his novel was bought by
more than the 10 million of the readers.

Question 2. ‘Mukund Padmanabhan’ was a reporter from ‘The Hindu’. In the

context of the chapter, re-veal his traits as an interviewer.
Answer: Mukund Padmanabhan was surely a successful and well-thought-out
reporter who always used to ask answerable and dexterous questions to his
interviewees. He used to plan and prepare to con-duct an interview of a
celebrity. He never asked ugly or embarrasing questions and on the other hand,
the celebrity whom he interviewed always seemed to be comfortable with his
questions. Through the inteviews, readers not only got the informations

about the celebrities but many other important aspects of Mukund’s personality
also came in their knowledge. He asked brief and quality questions to his
interviewees scrupulously. He let the interviewees spoke in their own manner
and never tried to interrupt or cross-questioned them.
His interviewees used to be free and frank with him. He was always a prepared
interviewer. Mukund, in advance arranged the informations and personality
traits of his interviewees and then with full preparations, started his sessions. In
all we can say that Mukund Padmanabhan was a disciplined and dedicated
interviewer.

Question 3. Several celebrities despise being interviewed. Is this justified?

Why? Why not?
Answer: There are several celebrities mentioned in this chapter like Rudyard
Kipling, V.S. Naipaul, H.G. Wells, Saul Bellow and etc. who dislike interviews
very strongly. They never became ready to be interviewed. Most of them
considered interviews as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives. They did not
want to reveal the secrets of their personal lives.

Even an interview is considered as an immoral activity, as a crime or sometimes

as an assault. They feel that the interviewers waste their precious time which
can be used by them for more creativity. On the other hand, common mass take
interviewes very positively as they come to know about the inner and hidden
things of their ideals. But interviewes have their drawbacks also.

Celebrities feel shy and disappointed when they are asked for interviewes but
they forget that they become famous and wealthy through the successful
interviewes. General mass become their fan and devotee by knowing more and
more about their ideals. Celebrities are even worshipped. In this regard, it can
be said that interview cannot be termed as an immoral activity.

Extract Based Questions and Answers

Read the following paragraph and answer the questions that follow:

(Para-1)

Since its invention a little over 130 years ago, 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, while from the other point of
view, several thousand celebrities have been interviewed over the years, some
of them repeatedly. So it is hardly supervising that opinions of the interview of
its functions, methods and meritsvery considerably.

Questions :
(a) What is an interview ? What’s its place in journalism ?
(b) What is the relation of an interview with a celebrity ?
(c) What is an interview for a literate person ?
(d) Name the chapter and the writer.
Answers:
(a) An interview is a one-on-one conservation between an interviewer and an
interviewee. It has a commonplace in journalism.
(b) Though, according to the text, most of the celebrities despise from interview
but several thousand times, celebrities have been interviewed over the years,
some of them repeatedly.
(c) For a literate person, an interview is an exciting content through which he
comes to know about their idols.
(d) The chapter is ‘The Interview’ by ‘Christopher Silvester’.

(Para-2)

‘Yet despite the drawbacks of the interview, it is a supremely serviceable

medium of communication. “These days, more than at any other time, our most
vivid impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews.” Denis Brian
has written. “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.”

Questions :
(a) Despite the drawbacks, what is an interview ?
(b) Through which medium, how do we get most vivid impressions of our
contemporaries ?
(c) How, according to Denis Brian, almost everything of moment reaches us ?
(d) Because of interviews, what position does the inter-viewer hold ?
Answers :
(a) Despite the drawbacks, an interview is a supremely serviceable medium of
communication.
(b) Through interviews, we get most vivid impressions of our contemporaries.
(c) According to Denis Brian, almost everything of moment reaches us through
one man asking questions to another.
(d) Because of interviews the interviewer holds a position of unprecedented
power and influence.

(Para-3)

And then I have a secret. Did you know what will happen if you eliminate the
empty spaces in all the atoms ? The universe will become as big as my fist.
Similarly, we have a lot of empty space 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.
Questions :
(a) What secret did Umberto Eco had ?
(b) What did Umberto Eco tell about the universe as well as fist ?
(c) What, according to the interviewee an ‘interstice’ ?
(d) What example did Umberto quote about an empty space ?

(Para-4)

That’s possible. But let me tell you another story, because I often tell stories like
a Chinese wise man. My American publisher said while she loved my book, she
did n’t expect to sell more than 3,000 copies in a country where nobody has
seen a cathedral or studies Latin. So I was given an advance for 3,000 copies,
but in the end it sold two or three million in the U.S.

A lot of books have been written about the medieval past for before mine. I
think the success of the book is a mystery. Nobody can predict it. I think if I had
written ‘The Name of the Rose’ ten year earlier or ten years later, it wouldn’t
have been the same. Why it worked at that time is a mystery.

Questions :
(a) What does the American publisher say to Umberto Eco ?
(b) How many copies of that book were sold ?
(c) What Umberto Eco says about the success of the book?
(d) What is a mystery according to Umberto Eco ?
Answers :
(a) American publisher says that in a country where nobody has seen a cathedral
or studies Latin, sale will not more than 3,000 copies of the book.
(b) Two or three million copies of that book were sold.
(c) Umberto Eco says that the success of the book is a mystery.
(d) According to Umberto Eco, ‘why it worked at that time is a mystery’. The
sale and success of the book was a mystery.

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