The Interview
History – The First published interview is by Horace Greeley in 1859 (Founder and
editor of The New York Tribune) who interviewed Brigham Young, an American religious leader and politician. This gave the readers a sense of direct contact with the
leaders. Interview grew as a new and powerful tool for revealing popular personalities behind their political or social events.
20th century is considered to be the Golden Era of interview with the rise of Radio in early 1920s as it brought the voice of
the popular Actors, politicians, leaders and the writers to the house of the
common man. It crossed the boundary between literate and
illiterate as it no longer remained confined among the educated or
literate class. Later in
1950, when Television entered the drawing rooms, it further added the visual impact of those popular personalities and their reactions during
interviews. Thus the audio-visual element added new flavor to the
electronic media and thereby, to journalism. Since interview is directly from
the person concerned, it is more personalized and spoken
in direct quotes that delivered firsthand information. Moreover, it makes a dull piece of news more humanized. Furthermore,
the interviewer and the audience have the chance to probe and clarify
the matter is discussion. This way the newsmaker or the Interviewer
creates a direct link with the audience and the public.
Given
below is the time line of the writers who were interviewed when Newspaper
Journalism started to flourish and for some others, the Radio and Television
were booming. Quite naturally their reaction was initially negative until they
found the brighter side of interview.
V.S. NAIPAUL: 1932-2018
Lewis Carroll: 1832-1898
Rudyard Kipling: 1865-1936
H. G. Wells: 1866-1946
Saul Bellow: 1915- 2005
Denis Brian: (1923-2017) who lived
through the time of technological advancements, understood the actual reason for
celebrities to initially react to interviews and so he quoted
“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.”
For
these reasons the celebrities were initially skeptical and loathed the process
of interview and the interviewer. However, the celebrities later accepted and
acknowledged the merits ad so either consented to be interviewed or interviewed
others.
For these reasons, Christopher Silvester wrote in his introduction to the Penguin Book
of Interviews, An Anthology from 1859 to the Present Day
“Some might make quite extravagant claims for
it as being, in its highest form, a source of truth, and, in 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…” Page
1 line no. 7-12
“It is a supremely serviceable medium of
communication” Page 2 Line no 9 & 10 from
the bottom
PART-II
Let us
analyse the given transcript of the Interview between Mukund and Umberto Eco
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.”
(Recognition and admiration from other writers of
other countries)
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.
(Humility of Umberto Eco)
Mukund: Which
is?
(Mukund’s promptness to dig deeper but with politeness)
Umberto Eco:
Aah, 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 spaces 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).
Umberto Eco was a professor, philosopher and a
novelist. He portrayed that literature can also be a medium of expression of
philosophical thoughts. He believed in the philosophy of peace, harmony and
non-violence. His “Name of the Rose” is based on the same ethics of human
behavior.
‘Interstice’ comes from a Latin word which means
‘Interval’. In physical sense it is used for a gap or crevice as in “Water
seeped through the interstice of the ground”. In figurative use it is used as
an ‘interval’ like ‘We all enjoy some jokes in the interstice of our works’.
Note the confident yet humble explanation of Eco. The laugh at the end
indicates that he enjoyed the interview and was not discomforted by the prompt
question of Mukund trying to dig deeper.
Mukund: Not
everyone can do that of course. Your non-fictional writing, your scholarly work
has a certain playful and personal quality about it. It is a marked departure
from a regular academic style — which is invariably depersonalised and often
dry and boring. Have you consciously adopted an informal approach or is it
something that just came naturally to you?
Note how well read and well informed Mukund
Padmanabhan was about scholarly works and the works of Umberto Eco. It
indicates an interviewer’s prior preparation for the interview.
Umberto Eco:
When I presented my first Doctoral dissertation in Italy, one of the Professors
said, “Scholars learn a lot of a certain subject, then they make a lot of false
hypotheses, then they correct them and at the end, they put the conclusions.
You, on the contrary, told the story of your research. Even including your
trials and errors.” At the same time, he recognised I was right and went on to
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 I started. Novels probably satisfied my
taste for narration.
In this part of Umberto Eco’s narrative, we see him as
a person who completed his doctoral research at a raw age of 22. Instead of
telling how a doctoral dissertation is to be written, he presented his personal
experience and how one of the professors admired his style. He was never
frustrated for not being a novelist until 50 when he accidentally started
writing novels. At this point in the interview the readers find Umberto Eco as
a prodigy with humility who has special liking for storytelling. Note how
casual and humble Eco was when he said ‘I had nothing to do one day and so I
started’. Umberto Eco’s famous quote is “To
survive, you must tell stories” as he considered storytelling is a fundamental
human activity. The sense of the world, sharing of experiences and human
connections are all woven in the fine tapestry of stories.
Mukund:
Talking about novels, from being a famous academic you went on to becoming
spectacularly famous after the publication of The Name of the Rose. You’ve written
five novels against many more scholarly works of non-fiction, at least more
than 20 of them...
Umberto Eco:
Over 40.
Note Eco’s self-consciousness, confidence and pride
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?
Mukund is overwhelmed here which helps the interviewee
to be comfortable and confident. On one hand, Mukund acknowledges his profound knowledge
in Semiotics and on the other hand, explores the interviewee’s reaction to his
recognition among common people who overlook or ignore his reputation as a
professor or philosopher.
Umberto Eco:
Yes. Because I consider myself a university professor who writes novels on
Sundays. It’s not a joke. I participate in academic conferences 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.
Note how confessional Eco was as he began with ‘Yes’ (Does
that bother you? Yes, that bothers me). He was proud to be a university
professor. At the same time he is so practical as he accepted that his novelist
profile brought him worldwide recognition which semiotics could not have
achieved.
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?
Mukund Padmanabhan is trying to politely exhume Eco’s
reaction to the worldwide acceptance and popularity of the book which contained
multiple aspects of intricate subjects. He is trying to figure out whether such
popularity was expected or not.
Umberto Eco:
No. Journalists are puzzled. And sometimes publishers. And this is because
journalists and 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 is 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.
The interviewee shuns the interviewer by condemning
the journalists and publishers who often undermine the choice of the readers.
He realized that only entertainment does not attract readers always. They want
some challenging experience that promotes critical and analytical thinking. Eco
won the heart of the audience by this statement as he rated them higher than
usual and prevalent notions.
Mukund: Could
the huge success of the novel have anything to do with the fact that it dealt
with a period of medieval history that...
Mukund is cut short here with his question incomplete
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.
Umberto
Eco narrates how his book was underestimated in the beginning and how the
publisher misjudged the choice of the readers. Eco’s humility does not claim
credit for the success of the book but attributed the success to multiple
factors- choice of the readers and time. He also suggested that it would be
wrong to predict the success or failure of a book before it hits the book
stores.
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