CBSE Class 12 English The Interview Worksheet Set B

Short Answer Questions

Question. How can you justify the importance of interview in modern journalism?
Answer. The interview is the most serviceable medium of communication in the modern times. It has become a commonplace of journalism. Several thousand celebrities have been interviewed over the years. We come to know about them only through interviews.

Question. What was the attitude of Lewis Carroll towards interview? How would he react to it?
Answer. Lewis Carroll feared an interviewer. He never consented to be interviewed. He feared being lionized and repelled would-be acquaintances, interviewers, and the persistent petitioners for his autograph. He felt satisfied and amused at silencing all such people.

Question. Who is V.S. Naipaul? What does he say about interview?
Answer. V.S. Naipaul is a celebrated cosmopolitan writer. He has written novels, travel books and documentary works. He presents his impression of India, the country of his ancestors, in them. He says that some people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves.

Question. Why did Rudyard Kipling refuse to be interviewed?
Answer. Kipling considered an interview as immoral. For him it was a crime in the same category as an offence against his person, as an assault and it merited just as much punishment. He called it cowardly and vile. No respectable man would ask it, much less give it.

Question. What disparity between Kipling’s attitude towards the interviewer do you notice in the chapter, ‘The Interview’ ?
Answer. Kipling had quite a condemnatory attitude towards the interviewer. The diary entry of his wife, Caroline, for 14 October 1892 states that their day was ruined by two reporters from Boston. Yet Kipling had himself committed such an “assault” on Mark Twain only a few years before.

Question. What drawbacks of interview have been pointed out by celebrities who consented to be interviewed several times? What does this reveal?
Answer. H.G. Wells and Saul Bellow are two celebrities who consented to be interviewed several times. In 1894, H.G. Wells referred to ‘the interviewing ordeal’. Saul Bellow once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. This shows that even lovers of interview have a deep inherent fear of being interviewed.

Question. What do you learn about Umberto Eco’s creative work from ‘The Interview’ ?
Answer. Umberto Eco is a versatile genius, a prolific writer. He has written on wide ranging subjects such as literary fiction, academic texts, essays, children’s book and newspaper articles. As against 5 novels he has 40 nonfiction works to his credit which show his scholarship.

Question. What is the general impression created by Umberto Eco’s output? How does he react to it?
Answer. The diversity and volume of Umberto’s output baffles people. Even David Lodge, the English novelist and academic once remarked that he could not understand how one man could do all the things Eco did. Eco admits that he might have given the impression of doing many things but he is convinced that he is always doing the same thing.

Question. “I am convinced I am always doing the same thing”, Umberto Eco. How does he explain it?
Answer. Eco says that he pursues his philosophical interests through his academic work and his novels. Even his books for children are about non-violence and peace. These are the same bunch of ethical, philosophical interests.

Question. What secret does Umberto Eco reveal about his time management?
Answer. Eco explains that time management is a secret. He works in empty spaces. There are a lot of empty spaces in our lives. He calls them interstices. Suppose someone is coming in an elevator from the first to the third floor to Eco’s place and he is waiting for the man. During this interstice, Eco has already written an article.

Question. What do you learn about Umberto Eco’s writing style from ‘The Interview’.?
Answer. Eco’s essays have a narrative aspect. He has adopted an informal approach. Even his nonfictional writing, his scholarly work has a playful and personal quality about it. It shows a marked departure from the regular academic style—which is usually depersonalised and often dry and boring.

Question. What problem did Roland Barthes face? Did Eco suffer from it?
Answer. Ronald Barthes was an essayist. He felt frustrated that he was not a novelist. He wanted to do creative writing, but he died before he could do so. Eco never felt such kind of frustration. His essays have a narrative aspect. Novels too satisfied his taste for narration.

Question. How, according to Umberto Eco, did he become a novelist?
Answer. Umberto Eco says that he started writing novels by accident. He had nothing to do one day and so he started. He admits that novels probably satisfied his taste for narration. He started writing novels at the age of 50 or so.

Question. How does Umberto Eco react to the observation,“Oh, he’s the novelist” ? What reasons does he offer?
Answer. The comment bothers Eco because he considers himself an academic scholar first and a novelist later. He says, “I consider myself a university professor who writes novels on Sundays.” He participates in academic conferences and identifies himself with the academic community.

Question. What has made Umberto Eco popular among the people and how?
Answer. It is Umberto Eco’s novels that have made him popular among the people. Ten to fifteen million copies of the novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ were sold. Eco admits that he reaches a larger audience by writing novels. He cannot expect to have one million readers with his book on semiotics.

Question. What sort of novel is ‘The Name of the Rose’ ? Who must have been puzzled at its success?
Answer. ‘The Name of the Rose’ is a very serious novel. It is a detective story at one level. But it also probes into metaphysics, theology and medieval history. Eco was not puzzled at its huge success, but journalists and publishers were.

Question. “Journalists are puzzled. And sometimes publishers”, says Umberto Eco. What arguments does he offer to support his contention?
Answer. Eco says that journalists and publishers believe that people like trash and don’t like difficult reading experience. But there are readers who don’t want easy experiences and not always or all times. He too watches light entertainment on T.V. after dinner. He enjoys it and needs it, but not all day.

Question. Why was Umberto Eco given an advance for 3000 copies only?
Answer. Eco’s American publisher told him that she loved her book, but she didn’t expect to sell more than 3000 copies there. So Eco was given an advance for 3,000 copies only. But in the end it sold two or three million in the U.S.

Question. Why, do you think, did the American publisher think that the novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ won’t sell well in America?
Answer. The novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ dealt with a period of medieval history. The publisher did not expect very good response in America because in this country nobody had seen a cathedral or studied Latin. In other words, people were ignorant about the medieval past there.

Question. Justify the title, ‘The Interview’.
Answer. The title of the excerpt is quite apt and logical. Umberto Eco reveals certain facts in the interview. He prefers to be called an academician than a novelist. He is more interested in scholarly non-fictional writing. His non-fictional writings are 40 compared to his 5 novels. He started writing novels at the age of 50 just by accident. He writes novels occasionally. He says that he is a professor who writes novels on Sundays.

Question. Was the medieval historical background the reason of the huge success of ‘The Name of the Rose’ ? What, according to Umberto Eco, was the reason of its huge success?
Answer. The interviewer Mukund Padmanabhan thinks that ‘The Name of the Rose’ achieved a huge success because of its medieval historical background. Umberto Eco doesn’t seem to agree with him. Many books had already been written about medieval past earlier. They didn’t got that much success. He thinks that the success of the book was a mystery. Perhaps it came at the appropriate time. If it had come ten years earlier or later, perhaps it would not have been such a huge success.

Question. Why do you think Christopher Silvester describes the viewpoints of other writers and authors when discussing the concept of an interview? Support your opinion with reference to any one writer cited.
Answer. To show that the viewpoints of people vary considerably regarding an interview, is the reason why Christopher describes this. Some people feel that in its highest form it is a source of truth while others feel they are victims of an unwanted intrusion into their lives. In Naipaul’s words ‘People are wounded, by interviews and lose a part of themselves.’

Question. How would you evaluate Mukund Padmanabhan as an interviewer? Mention at least two qualities he displays in his interview, supported by textual evidence.
Answer. Mukund Padmanabhan appears to be a meticulous and respectful interviewer. It is evident that he has thoroughly researched about his interviewee (Umberto Eco). He is respectful in his behaviour and does not interrupt him while Eco is speaking. He has indepth knowledge of Eco’s work and asks him interesting and relevant questions like how he feels on being recognised as a novelist rather than as an academician. He also discusses the immense popularity of his novel ‘The Name of The Rose’ and how he feels about its success.

Question. Christopher Silvester shares author’s reservations about interviewing. Bearing that in mind, would you interview a writer of your choice? If so, what would you pay particular attention to in interviewing the said writer?
Answer. Yes, I would love to interview Ruskin Bond, an author, I enjoy reading. I would keep my questions focussed on his art of writing, the source of his ideas, the other hobbies that he enjoyed etc., but steer clear of asking him any questions that might seem intrusive, disrespectful and gossipy.

Question. What are some of the positive views on interviews?
Answer. Interview, in the 130 years of its existence, has become an inherent part of journalism. It is a useful means of communication that is, at times, considered to be an art, serving as a source of truth. Denis Brian has stated that in today’s world we get to know “our contemporaries” through their interviews.

Question. Why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?
Answer. Celebrity writers believe that interviews unduly interfere in their private lives. They regard themselves as victims of interviews. They claim that the interview in some way ‘diminishes’ them, just like some ancient cultures believed that a portrait of a person takes
away his soul. Certain celebrities like V.S Naipaul have claimed that interviews leave them wounded, while others like Rudyard Kipling have referred to it as a crime and an immoral act. 

Question. What is the belief in some primitive cultures about being photographed?
Answer. Some primitive cultures believed that photographing a person is no less than stealing his/her soul out of the body and rendering him incomplete and slighted.

Question. What do you understand by the expression “thumbprints on his windpipe”?
Answer. The expression means having been strangulated. The interview is an assault on a person as it makes him/her so tense that he/she feels as good as being choked.

Question. Who, in today’s world, is our chief source of information about personalities?
Answer. In modern times, the chief source of information on personalities is the interviewer who, through his power and influence, gathers information and provides us with the best possible information on the interviewees. He extracts everything significant through his questions for us. 

Question. Do you think Umberto Eco likes being interviewed? Give reasons for your opinion.
Answer. Yes, Umberto Eco, in all possibilities, likes being interviewed. He felt just at ease with the interviewer and answered all the questions fully and patiently without showing any hurry. He stated his achievement in a very modest manner and explained his philosophical
views and interest clearly. He let the interviewer enter the secret about his craft with a loud laugh. Also, he elaborated his approach which was unique. He was mannerly, warm and properly responsive as well.

Question. How does Eco find the time to write so much?
Answer. There are two factors that explain how Eco was able to write so much. In his own words, the life of every person has exply spaces- periods with no important jobs. He says that he did most of his writing during these free intervals. Second, he explains that people wondered that he (Eco) had written so much on various subjects. But the fact is that he was writing on the same lines and same interests-peace, non-violence, etc. All his works were
linked with the thread of common interests. It saves his time and he could write a lot in a short period of time. That was the secret behind Eco’s prolific pen. 

Question. What was distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?
Answer. 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 depersonalized and often dry and boring.

Question. Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist first or an academic scholar?
Answer. Umberto Eco considered himself an academic scholar first and a novelist later. He makes his preference clear by saying, "I consider myself a university professor who writes novels on Sundays". On week days he attends academic conferences and does other scholarly, non-fictional work.

Question. What is the reason for the huge success of the novel,The Name of the Rose?
Answer. 'The Name of the Rose' is different sort of noveL It is quite serious noveL It is a detective story at one leveL But it also probes into metaphysics theology and medieval history. The reasons for the success of the book, however, remain a mystery.

Discuss in pairs or small groups.

Question. The medium you like best for an interview, print, radio, or television.
Answer. The medium I like best for an interview is the television. It has both audio and visual effect. It presents the interviewer and interviewee before the audience in their true colours. Usually celebrities accuse the reporters of misquoting them or misreporting them in the print media or the radio. This is not possible when they are face-to-face on the television. Their lip movement and body movement while replying to probing questions are there for all to see. The recording of various expressions coming on the face of the interviewee and his/her gestures and words are the additional advantages that television holds over the print media or the radio. The print media has dull, dry words alongside a picture whereas the
radio tries to create the atmosphere by skilful variation of the sound. Both expect a lot of attention from the reader/audience.

Question. Every famous person has a right to his or her privacy. Interviewers sometimes embarrass celebrities with very personal questions.
Answer. Interviewers want to present exclusive and intimate details about the famous person they are interviewing. Some interviewers focus on the public life and achievements of the individual only. They try to be objective in their approach as well as assessment.
However, there are others who want to make their interviews more spicy and usually cross the thin limit of privacy of the individual. In their zeal to present good copy they embrass the famous person with the personal questions. Sometimes impact of such questions on famous
person reveals his/her aversion as well as irritation at the silliness of the person. If they shout, they are accused of being rude and proud and if they keep mum thy are labeled as arrogant. In my opinion privacy of an individual must be respected.

Long Answer Questions

Question. ‘Yet, despite the drawbacks of the interview, it is a supremely serviceable medium of communication.’ Highlight the importance of interview, its drawbacks and positive aspects and reactions of celebrity writers on the basis of the chapter, ‘The Interview’.
Or
“ ... it is hardly surprising that opinions of the interview—of its functions, methods and merits—vary considerably.” Elucidate.
Answer. Although ‘Interview’ as a literary genre is not more than 150 years old, it has become an important tool for the journalists. Several thousand celebrities have been interviewed over the years, and some of them repeatedly. Opinions differ. Some consider it a source of truth and an art. Others despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives. The celebrities see themselves as its victims. They feel that it somehow diminishes them. V.S. Naipaul feels that some people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves. Lewis Carroll was said to have had ‘a just horror of the interviewer’.
Rudyard Kipling considered interview as an assault. H.G. Wells, who was a fairly frequent interviewee, has referred to ‘the interviewing ordeal.’ Saul Bellow, who was interviewed on several occasions, once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. Despite all these drawbacks, interviews help us to learn about our contemporaries and form opinions. In short, interviews act like mirrors to reflect the personality of the interviewee.

Question. What impression do you form about Umberto Eco as a scholar and writer on the basis of ‘The Interview’ ?
Answer. Umberto Eco impresses us a person who remains frank and modest in spite of achieving intellectual super stardom. Success usually makes people arrogant, but we discover no trace of it in his personality. He is a level headed person whose priorities are well defined. Though he has achieved phenomenal success with the publication of his novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ of which about 10 million copies have been sold, he regards novel as a means of reaching a larger audience. He frankly admits that he could not even expect to have one million readers with his scholarly book on semiotics. He regards himself an academic scholar first and a novelist later.
He frankly admits that he started writing novels by accident. Now he is a professor who writes novels on Sundays. Compared to his five novels, he has more than forty non-fiction work to his credit, which show his scholarship. He explains that he works in interstices or empty spaces. This is the mystery behind so much of his output.

Question. How does Umberto Eco pursue his philosophical and academic interests? How does he make use of ‘interstices’ ? What are the distinguishing features of his non-fictional style?
Answer. Umberto Eco has many philosophical interests. He pursues them through his academic works and novels. Even his books for children are about non-violence and peace. They are the same bunch of ethical and philosophical interests. Eco has written more than 40 scholarly non-fictional works. Among them is a seminal work on semiotics. He prefers to be called an academician. He participates in academic conferences and not in the meetings of pen clubs and writers. He identifies himself with the academic community. He declares that he is a university professor who writes novels on Sundays.Umberto Eco shares a secret with the interviewer. He thinks that if we eliminate the empty spaces from the universe the world will shrink. It will become as big as a fist. Similarly we have a lot of empty spaces or interstices in our lives. He works in these empty spaces and uses them to his advantage. Umberto Eco has evolved a distinct nonfictional style. It is different from the regular academic style which is usually ‘depersonalised and often dry and boring.’ Padmanabhan finds a certain playful and personal quality about his scholarly work. Eco admits that his essays have a narrative aspect. This narrative style of his scholarly works was fully developed later on in his novels.

Question. How did Umberto Eco start writing novels and when? What does he prefer to be called—a novelist or a scholar? What does he say about the huge success of his novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ in spite of it being a difficult and a very serious novel?
Answer. Umberto Eco admits that he became a novelist just by accident. He started writing novels at a late age of 50, more or less. He has written only five novels against his more than forty non-fictional writings. He prefers to be called an academician though most people know him as a novelist. He says that he is a professor who writes novels on Sundays. Thus writing novels is his secondary and occasional occupation.
The novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ was published in 1980. More than 10 million copies were sold and Eco acquired the equivalent of intellectual superstardom with it. The interviewer asks what can be the possible reason of its huge success. Perhaps it can be the medieval background of the novel. But Umberto does not seem to believe it. He says that a lot of books have been written earlier about the medieval past. All of them did not get that much popularity and success. Even he can’t understand the phenomenal success of ‘The Name of the Rose’. It is a mystery even to him.
Eco agrees that ‘The Name of the Rose’ is a difficult and quite serious novel. It has proved the journalists and publishers wrong. They think that people like only ‘trash’ or something light. They don’t like difficult reading. However, the success of ‘The Name of the Rose’ has shown that people like serious and difficult readings also.
Umberto Eco gives an example to illustrate that no one can judge the mood of the reading public. His American publishers gave him an advance for only 3,000 copies. But 2 to 3 million copies were sold in the USA alone. The total sale was between 10 and 15 million copies. Umberto Eco thinks that ‘The Name of the Rose’ was written at the most appropriate time. If it had been written ten years earlier or later, it would not have been such a huge success.

Question. Imagine that you are Christopher Silvester. You have been invited to a seminar series titled–‘Ethics and Techniques of Interviewing’. The organisers would like you to speak about the challenges of conducting interviews, and skills interviewers must have in order to conduct good and ethical interviews.
Based on your reading of The Interview, Part I and II, draft your speech including relevant details from the text in support of your answer.
Answer. Good afternoon. It gives me great pleasure to interact with you all on a very interesting topic-‘Ethics and Techniques of Interviewing’. I have been a journalist for the last decade or so and have certain rules of interviewing that I follow rigidly.The most important rule is to know your boundaries–the questions that you can ask and those that are intrusive as the famous writer V.S. Naipaul said ‘Interviewers feel that some people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves.’ Infact did you know that Lewis Carroll, the famous writer of Alice in Wonderland refused to give interviews while Rudyard Kipling felt interviews were immoral and an ‘assault’ against him. Some people like Saul Bellow who felt suffocated while giving an interview called it ‘thumb prints on his windpipe’. Therefore before interviewing anyone I research well about my interviewee and make sure that I never ask him/her any personal questions. All I focus on is the area in which the person has excelled his art or music, his beliefs etc. So that he/she feels comfortable while answering my questions. If someone does not want to speak on any area I change my questions. Respect and good manners are very important tools that every journalist should carry in his toolkit. It opens all doors and heart of people.

Question. Mukund Padmanabhan was gifted the ‘Penguin Book of Interviews-An Anthology from 1859 to the Present Day’ edited by Christopher Silvester, after interviewing Eco. He shared his thoughts on his personal blog exploring his own concerns about interviewing a distinguished writer Eco, followed by an evaluation of the interview in light of his reading. As Mukund Padmanabhan write a blog post.
Answer. Reading Christopher Silvester’s book about interviews (The Penguin Book of Interviews– An Anthology from 1859 to the Present Day) was like reaffirming my ‘belief about the way celebrities especially authors view interviews. Getting Umberto Eco to speak on his writing and his role as an academician and author was quite challenging initially. However I made sure to keep the questions away from his personal life and only focussed on his role as a writer. Infact I feel I have been very lucky with the wealth of information that I was able to get about Eco’s style of writing during the interview. He was quite open with his views, articulate and not shy of voicing his opinion. I am grateful that the interview turned out to be so informative and interesting an I think Eco’s friendly and warm behaviour was a testament to my ability to question him without being intrusive and nosy.

Question. Part I of ‘The Interview’ is an excerpt from the Penguin Book of Interviews. Do you think that the extract to present to balanced perspective about interviews?
Substantiate your answer with relavant textual details. If this were the entire introduction,what would your expectation from the book be?
Answer. No, to the contrary I feel that the excerpt actually shows the true picture of interviews and the manner in which they are conducted. Infact these days the interviewer is only looking for a scoop-something sensational about the interviewee which will help his magazine or newspaper to sell like, hot cakes. Most of the time interviewers are intrusive braised and openly hostile while interviewing celebrities. They are not interested in their success stories or their achievements. All they want is some dirty dark secret which can ruin their achievement and portray them in poor light to the readers. This is an era of sensational news and journalism. Pulling people down, criticizing them, quoting them out of context gives them immense pleasure because normal interviews are too dull and boring for their taste.
From the given introduction book to showcase views of many other famous people who had mixed opinion about the interviews that they had to face as a by-product of their fame and success. It would be interesting to read bout these opinions and reasons for either liking or disliking interviews in general.