Interview
By Christopher Sylvester
Interviews have been 130 years old
This chapter shows both the commendable and condemnatory aspects of interview
It brings out the views of celebrities on interview.
All have different opinions
Most of the interviewees feel uncomfortable with the interviews.
Many writers believe that interviews are an intrusion in their privacy
1) VK Naipaul interviews have an injuring effect and during it one loses a part of
himself.
2) Lewis Caroll- ( Alice in Wonderland) -Horror of being lionized( fear of being
projected larger than life, kept fans and interviewers away- later he would feel
amused and related his success stories
3) Rudyard Kipling -His wife Caroline wrote in her diary.
Their day was wrecked by two reporters
-he considered it crime/ assault/immoral / crime
However, Kipling himself interviewed Mark Twain
4) H G Wells - considers interview as an ordeal but he himself interviewed Joseph
Stalin.
5) Saul Bellow - interviews were like thumbprints on windpipe as he felt
suffocated during interview.
Positive aspects of Interview
1) Helps in finding the hidden talent of a person
2) Brings to us truth about people and events.
3) Supremely useful medium of communication
4) Gives most vivid impression of our contemporaries
5) According to Denis Brian – interviewer holds a position of unprecedented
(exceptional) power and influence .
2nd Part of the chapter
-interview of Umberto Eco . Professor at University of Bologna.
Interviewed by Mukund Padmanabhan of The Hindu.
Work of Eco
Author of a book on Semiotics (Study of Signs)
-fiction, academic text, essays, children books based on peace and non violence,
newspapers, articles, 40 scholarly works of non fiction and five novels.
First question
English novelist David lodge once remarked that how one man could do all things
together
His answer- First reason was that he wrote about same ethical philosophical
interest through different genres.
second reason- was interstices- the empty spaces of the universe these empty
spaces of our lives (free time) can be utilized instead of wasting them
Second question
when other authors have a dull and drap style of writing academic essays but
Eco’s essays are playful and interesting.
Answer of Eco
His Narrative style come spontaneously without effort as he wrote the ground
reality, where others make false hypotheses of a subject matter, correct it and put
conclusion.
Whereas Eco's style was narrative, playful and even included his trials and errors.
At the age of 22 his dissertation was published .It was liked by his professor as it
told the story of his research. His essays were playful and have narrative style
Eco as a novelist
Ronald Barthes his essayist friend was always frustrated that he was an essayist
not a novelist
wanted to write a novel but could never write as he died before he could do so.
On the contrary Eco started writing novels accidentally on Sundays, when he had
nothing to write he started writing novels. He wrote the novel ‘The Name of the
Rose’
Mukund asked – if he considered himself Academician or Novelist
Eco replied, he considered himself a University Professor and an Academician not
a novelist
He liked to participate in academic conferences not in meetings of pen clubs and
writers
The Name of the Rose
Was a detective novel, a serious novel which was based on metaphysics theology
and medieval history yet it was enjoyed by mass audience
It was a great success as there are people who like difficult reading experience and
not trash
People always look for a change as he himself watched ‘Miami Vice’ and
Emergency Room at 9 p.m after dinner but not the whole day.
His publisher thought that only 3000 copies will be sold but 2 to 3 million copies
of the novel were sold in US
Eco admits that if the Nobel was published 10 years before or 10 years later It
wouldn't have been the same best seller