Page 1 - Microsoft Word - LESSON NOTES THE INTERVIEW-CHAPTER 18

THE INTERVIEW: CHRISTOPHER SILVESTER

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
infamous writer Umberto Eco.

Interview-a genre-its History
Interview, an inevitable part of journalism was discovered over 130 years ago. These days, it
is nothing out of the ordinary.
In fact, people who are educated are believed to have read an interview at one or other
point in their lives and on the other hand, almost every celebrity has been interviewed more
than once.

Since it is very commonly used, it is not unbelievable that many people have conflicting
views about the usage and advantages of an interview.
Some people have elaborative claims about it’s goodness as they believe it to be a path
towards knowing complete truth and consider it’s practice to be an art.
If looked at from the interviewee’s point of view, it may look like an unwanted intervention in
their personal lives. It creates a picture in the minds of readers and viewers which according
to an old saying, steals the original identity of the person.

Opinions about Interviews
Many famous personalities have a bad impression in their minds about interviews. The
cosmopolitan writer, V. S. Naipaul feels that a bad interview has the tendency of leaving
them wounded for life.
The creator of Alice in Wonderland never consented to be interviewed as he was too scared
of the interviewer. He feared that a lot of attention would be drawn towards him and thus, he
remained away from those who knew him - those who wanted to either interview him or get
an autograph of his. He would narrate tales of his success at avoiding such requests with
satisfaction and enjoyment.

Rudyard Kipling was strongly against the idea of getting interviewed. His wife recorded one
such incident in her diary when their day in Boston was ruined by two reporters. She also
made an account of why her husband refused to appear for an interview. According to him,
interviews are immortal and he calls interviewing a ‘crime’ which should attract punishment
just as any other crime. It is an extremely unpleasant experience and no man with self-
respect would ask or consent to it. Ironically, Kipling once carried on such ‘assault’ on Mark
Twain some years earlier.

The famous English novelist and journalist, H.G.Wells said that an interview was an
unpleasant experience but forty years later, he interviewed the Russian revolutionary,
Joseph Stalin.
Another writer, Saul Bellow commented that an interview seemed to be like fingertips on his
windpipe which means that he felt choked and suffocated when he sat for one.

Despite the drawbacks, an interview seemed to fulfil its purpose of communicating with the
audience.

According to Denis Brian, an interview gives us the most clear impression of the people of
our times. The set up of one man, the interviewer asking questions from the other, the
interviewee gives him power and influence.