The Interview class 12 chapter 7 English Flamingo, Explanation summary Difficult words Question and answer
The Interview class 12 English flamingo Lesson-7 Detailed explanation of the lesson the interview by Christopher Silvester’ The Interview is the 12th Flamingo book. it is included in the CBSE syllabus. class 12 English The Interview is based on Umberto’s Interview
The Interview class 12 by
Christopher Silvester
The Interview class 12 Introduction
The Interview by Christopher Silvester is an excerpt taken from his Penguin book of Interviews. In this he talks about various opinions of the celebrities regarding an Interview, its functions, methods and merits. it also consists of an excerpt from an Interview with the famous writer umberto eco.
The Interview class 12 About the Author
Christopher Silvester was born in 1959 and educated at Lancing College. Sussex, and Peterhouse Cambridge, where he read history. he has written for several newspapers and magazines, including the Evening Standard, the Guardian, the Observer, the Independent on Sunday, and Vanity Fair. he is also the editor of the penguin book of Interviews. As Anthology (Published poems and pieces of writings) in 1859.
The Interview class 12 Characters
- V.S. Naipaul –Famous author (novelist)
- Lewis Carroll— famous author (novelist)
- Rudyard Kipling--famous novelist
- H.G. Wells–famous author (novelist)
- Saul Bellow–He gave Interview.
The Interview class 12 second part characters
- Mukund padmanabham–Interviewer
- Umberto eco–Interviewing
The Interview class 12 theme.
The chapter talks about the new invention in journalism that is the Interview. it broadly discusses how different people/ celebrities have multiple views about the Interview and what it does to their personality and being.
The Interview class 12 Important words of this chapter (use to your exam papers)
- Extravagant– असाधारण
- Despise–नफ़रत करना
- Lionize–चापलूसी करना
- Condemnatory–अभियोगात्मक
- Ordeal–परख
- Contemporary–समकालीन (living or occurring at the same time.)
- Mystery–रहस्य ( Something that is difficult or impossible to understand )
- Thumbprint–थंबप्रिंट ( a distinctive identifying characteristic)
The Interview class 12 Important notes of the chapter
- V.S.Naipaul- that some people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves’
- Lewis carroll- that a just horror of the Interviewer.
- Rudyard kipling- writer of the jungle book
- H.G wells- it’s a nobelist He write The Invisible Man novel
- Saul bellow- Interview seems like finger tip on a windpipe
- Mukund padmanabham-it’s an interviewer (editor of The Hindu)
- Umberto eco- It’s a interviewing ( A Famous Italian Nobelist)
The Interview class 12 part I Explanation
Since its invention a little over 130 years ago, the interview has become a commonplace of journalism. today almost everyday who is literate will have read an interview at some point in their lives. white from the other point at view.
Several thousands celebrities have been interviewed over the years. some of them repeatedly. so it is hardly surprising that opinion of the interview. of its functions, methods and merits vary considerably. some might make quite extravagant claims for its practice. an art others. usually celebrities who see themselves as its victims.
Might despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives. or feel that it somehow diminishes them. just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person’s soul.
V.S Naipaul. feels that some people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves’ Lewis carroll, the creator of Alice in wonderland. was said to have had a just horror of the interviewer. and he never consented to be interviewed.
Known as a cosmopolitan. writer In his travel books and in his documentary works he presents his impression of the country of his ancestors that is India. he received the nobel prize in Literature in 2001.
It was his horror of being lionized which made him thus repel would be acquaintances, interviewers, and the persistent petitioners for his autograph and he would afterwards relate the stories of his success in silencing all such people with much satisfaction and amusement. Rudyard kipling expressed an even more condemnatory attitude towards
The Interviewer. his wife caroline, writers in her diary for 14 October 1892 that their day was wrecked by two reporters from Boston’ she reports her husband as saying to the is immoral. it is a crime just as much of a crime as an offence against my person. as an assault, and just as much merits punishment .it is cowardly and vile.
No respectable man would ask it, much less give it’ yet kipling had himself perpetrated such an assault’ on mark twain only a few years before. H.G. well’s in an interview in 1894 referred to the interviewing ordeal’ but was a fairly frequent interviewer and forty years
Later found himself interviewing Joseph stalin. saul bellow who has consented to be interviewed on several occasion, nevertheless once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. 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 impression of our contemporaries are through Interviews’ denis brian has written’ almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking question of another. because of this, the interviewer holds a position of unprecedented power and influence’
The Interview class 12 part Second II Explanation
the Following is an extract from an interview with Umberto Eco. the interviewer is Mukund Padmanabhan from the Hindu. Umberto eco. a professor at the university of bologna in Italy had already 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 write fiction.
Literary fiction. academic texts essays, and children’s books. newspaper articles his written output is staggeringly large and wide-ranging. In 1980. he acquired the equivalent of Intellectual superstardom with the publication of the name of the Rose’ which sold more than 10 million copies.
Mukund’ The English novelist and academic David lodge once remarked. I can’t understand how one man can do all the things he (eco) does’
Umberto Eco: Maybe I give the impression of doing many things, but In the end I am convinced I am always doing the same thing.
Mukund: which is ?
Umberto Eco: Ash. now that is more difficult to explain. I have some philosophical interests and I pursue them through my academic work and my novels. Even my books for children are about non-violence and peace. you see the same bunch of ethical philosophical interests.
And then I have a secret. did you know what will happen if you eliminate the empty spaces from the universe. eliminate the empty spaces in all the atoms? the universe will become as big as my fist.
Similarly, we have a lot of empty a pace 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. I work in empty spaces. while waiting for your elevator to come up from the first to the third floor. I have already written an article. (laughs).
Mukund: not everyone can do that of course, your non-fictional writing, your scholarly work has a certain playful and personal quality about. it its is a marked departure from a regular academic style which is invariably depersonalised and often dry and boring have. you consciously that just came naturally to you”?
Umberto Eco: when I presented my first Doctoral dissertation in Italy, one of the professors said. scholars learn a lot about a certain subject, then they make a lot of false hypotheses, then they correct them and at the end, they put the conclusion. you, on the contrary, told the story of your research. Even including your trials and errors at the same time, he recognized I was right and went no publish my dissertation as a book, which meant he appreciated it.
At that point. at the age of 22, I understood scholarly books should be written the way I had done– by telling the story of the research. this is why my essays always have a narrative aspect. and this is why probably I started writing narratives (novels) so late at the age of 50, more or less.
I remember that my dear friend Roland Barthes was always frustrated that he was an essayist and not a novelist. he wanted to do creative writing one day or another but he died before he could do so. I never felt this kind of frustration. I started writing novels by accident. I had nothing to do one
day and so started novel probably satisfied my taste for narration.
Mukund; Taking about novels, from being a famous academic you went on to becoming spectacularly famous after You’ve written five novels against many more scholarly works of non-fiction at least more than 20 of them.
Umberto: Eco. over 40
Mukund: Over 40 among them a seminal piece of work on semiotics but ask most people about umberto eco and they will say. oh, he’s the novelist. does that bother you?”
Umberto: Eco. yes because I consider myself a university professor who writes novels on Sundays it’s not a joke. I Participate in academic conference and not meetings of pen clubs and writers . I identify myself with the academic community.
But okay. if they (most people) have read only the novels. (laughs and shrugs). I know that by writing novels. I reach a larger audience. I cannot expect to have one million readers with stuff on semiotics.
Mukund: which brings me to my next question. 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 mass audience. were you puzzled. at all by this?
Umberto Eco. No journalists are puzzled and sometimes publishers believe that people like trash and don’t like difficult reading experiences. consider there are six billion people on this planet. the name of the Rose sold between 10 and 15 million copies. so in a way I reached only a small
Percentage of readers but it exactly these kinds of readers who don’t want easy experiences. or at least don’t always want this. I myself at 9 pm after dinner. watch television and want to see either Miami vice. or Emergency Room’ I enjoy it and I need. it but not all day.
Mukund: Could then huge success of the novel have anything to do with the fact that it dealt with a period of medieval history that..
Umberto Eco: 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 didn’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 far 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 years earlier or ten years later. it wouldn’t have been the same. why it worked at that time is a mystery.
The Interview class 12 part I summary
The Writer firstly tells us the importance of the Interview which was invented over 130 years. almost everybody will have experienced interviews, either read it or have heard of celebrities being interviewed there are different opinions regarding the functions methods and merits of interview. some claim, it is a source of truth and in its practice, it is an art.
On the contrary, some regard it as an unwelcomed guest into their lives they feel that it diminishes them. Silvester lists out well know writers who are against interviews.V.S.Naipaul, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, H.G. well, soul below. yet despite its drawbacks, the interview is a powerful medium of communication.
The Interview class 12 part II summary
The second part is an extract from an interview of Umberto Eco a professor at the university of Bologna in Italy who has been recognised for her scholarly writings (on semiotics, leterary interpretations and medieval aesthetics),
The Extract helps us to know many aspects of his writing style and ideas .though it gives an impression of Umberto doing many things at a time but he says that he is doing the same thing. he reveals the secret of his success. he says that we all have a lot of empty spaces in our lives and he works in such empty spaces. when he is asked about the personal and peculiar style of writing.
He recalls the submission of his first doctoral thesis at the age of 22 in which he told the story of his research instead of stressing the hypothesis or conclusion of the study. his essay always have a narrative aspect he has written over 40 articles and only 5 novels (started at the age of 50) but most the people recognize him as a novelist he calls himself an academician when Mukund asks him the reason behind the huge success of the name of the Rose’
Name of the Ross- It is a very serious novel having a deep study into metaphysics (beyond physical world) theology (the science of religion) and medieval history. he honesty replies that it is a mystery even to him. he says that if the novel had come ten years later or earlier, it would not have got such a success.
Conclusion of summary
- Interview is a powerful tool of communication
- Umberto Eco does not despite being Interviewed
The Interview class 12 Question and Answer
Page No:69
Question:1 what are some of the positive views on interviews?”
Answer” Interviews, 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 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.
page No: 69
Question:2 why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?”
Answer” Celebrity writers believe that interview 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.
page No: 69
Question:3 what is the belief in some primitive cultures about being photographed?
Answer: Some primitive cultures believed that getting oneself photographed would rob them of their souls.
page No: 69
Question:4 what do you understand by the expression thumbprints on his windpipe?”
Answer” Thumbprints on his windpipe’ means to choke or suffocate somebody by applying pressure on his throat. saul bellow uses this expression to refer to the pressure and discomfort felt by a celebrity while giving an interview.
page No: 69
Question:5 who, in today’s world is our chief source of information about personalities?
Answer” Interviews help us know our non-temporaries and their opinions. they serve as a means of communication between the celebrities and the audience. In this case. the interviewer is endowed with a very special power and he becomes our chief source of information about personalities.
page No:73
Question:6 Do you think umberto Eco likes being interviewed? give reasons for your opinion.
Answer” yes, umberto Eco, in all possibilities, likes being interviewed. he readily answers every question asked by mukund padmanabhan in an energetic and lively manner. he does not seem apprehensive about sharing his secrets, experiences and opinions with the interviewer. and consequently, the world. there is no indication throughout the interview that he dislikes being interviewed.
page No: 73
Question:7 How does Eco find the time to write so much?
Answer” During the interview, Mukund padmanabhan reiterates david Lodge’s astonishment on umberto Eco’s large amount of works and how he manages to write them all. Eco replies that just like the universe has empty spaces, our lives too, have a lot of empty spaces or interstices ‘ as he calls them. whenever he has a few moments to spare in between two different tasks. instead of wasting them, he uses the time to write. he even gives an example of his working technique. he says that while waiting for someone to come up the elevator he keeps himself busy.
page No: 73
Question:8 what was distinctive about Eco’s academic writing style?
Answer” Eco’s writing style is strikingly different from that of the standard academic mode. the academicians first make a thorough research, then move on to prove their hypotheses, and finally give their conclusion on that subject. the final outcome, therefore comes out as tedious. Eco’s on the other hand tells the story of his research, including his’ trials and error. while the scholars usually use a very depersonalised and dull manner, Eco’s style is personalised and playful, and in the form of a narrative.
page No: 73
Question:9 Did Umberto Eco consider himself a novelist first or an academic scholar?
Answer” Umberto Eco considered himself an academic scholar first and then a novelist. he wrote more scholarly articles as compared to novels, and he attended academic conferences and not meetings of pen clubs and writers. according to him, he was a university professor who wrote novels on sundays, I started writing novels by accident’ he said.
page No:73
Question:10 what is the reason for the huge success of the novel, the name of the Rose”?
Answer” Umberto Eco has rightly pointed out that the success behind the name of the Rose is a mystery. it is not possible to know the exact reason behind a book’s success or failure. one can only make wild guesses. Perhaps the time in history when it was written has proved favourable for its success. according to Mukund, the novel’s setting in the medieval past might have contributed to its success. but many novels written about the medieval past have failed to get as much success.
The Interview class 12 MCQ’s Question and Answer
Question:1 what do Rudyard Kipling and his wife express about interviews?
- Immoral
- not good
- very good
- immoral and offensive crime against a person
Question:2 why were the journalists and publishers puzzled by the success of the name of the Rose?
- because readers like trash and it was a serious novel
- because it was becoming popular
- because of its high rated success
- None
Question:3 what was Lewis carroll’s opinion of interviews and autographs?
- wonder
- terror
- horror
- None
Question:4 which period of history do Umberto’s novels deal with?
- Renaissance
- dark age
- modern era
- Medieval period
Question:5 why did Umberto start writing novels?
- to avail an opportunity
- to be in limelight
- to share his views
- to make best use of empty spaces means free time
Question:6 what facts are being showcased in the interview held between Eco and padamanbhan?
- He takes pride in being an academician. a university professor first
- being a novelist is a secondary thing for him
- uses his free time for writing novels
- all these
Question:7 How many novels has umberto written?
- 10
- 8
- 15
- 5
Question:8 what do his works for children speak about?
- his passion for children
- children are nuisance
- children love to be happy
- non-violence and peace
Question:9 Explain” Denis Brian’s statement almost everything of moment searches us through one man asking questions of others.
- The Interviewer has the power
- The Interviewer has status
- The Interviewer can elicit the truth and has the power to influence
- all these
Question:10 Enumerate’ An Interview is a supremely serviceable medium of communication?
- A medium to gossip
- a medium to be the talk of the town
- a medium to prosper
- a noble medium of interaction and introspection.
MCQ’s Answers
| Question No | Answer | Question No | Answer |
| 1 | D | 6 | D |
| 2 | A | 7 | D |
| 3 | C | 8 | D |
| 4 | D | 9 | D |
| 5 | D | 10 | D |
Comprehension
- Understanding personal opinion
- understanding conversation and the interview pattern.
conclusion
The gist of this lesson is that every person is different and everyone has something special in common. As seen from the Interview of Umberto.