TOPIC 13 OF 19
The Interview – Part 1
🎓 Class 12
English
CBSE
Theory
Ch 7 — The Interview
⏱ ~35 min
🌐 Language: [gtranslate]
📖 English Passage Assessment
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This CBSE English Passage Assessment will be based on: The Interview – Part 1
Assessment Format:
• 2 Short Answer Questions (2 marks each) = 4 marks
• 2 Fill in the Blanks Questions (1 mark each) = 2 marks
• 2 Short Answer Questions (1 mark each) = 2 marks
• 2 Multiple Choice Questions (1 mark each) = 2 marks
Total: 8 Questions, 10 Marks
📖 English Grammar Assessment
▲
This CBSE English Grammar Assessment will be based on: The Interview – Part 1
Assessment Format:
• 10 Randomized Grammar Questions (1 mark each)
• Question Types: Fill in the Blanks, MCQs, Error Identification, Reported Speech, Sentence Completion
Total: 10 Questions, 10 Marks
📖 English Vocabulary Assessment
▲
This English Vocabulary assessment will be based on: The Interview – Part 1
Targeting Vocabulary & Usage with Intermediate difficulty.
Before You Read — The Interview
Chapter 7 explores the interview as a communication genre — its power, its controversies, and a fascinating real interview with Italian intellectual Umberto Eco.
1
Think about this: Have you ever watched a celebrity interview on television or read one in a magazine? What did you notice about the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee? Who held more power in that exchange?
An interview is never just a simple conversation — it is a structured, purposeful exchange. The interviewer controls the questions; the interviewee controls the answers. Power shifts constantly. At its best, an interview reveals truth; at its worst, it intrudes on privacy. Notice how both parties in this chapter navigate that tension.
2
Key Expressions — infer their meaning:
unwarranted intrusion An invasion of privacy that is not justified or invited
thumbprints on his windpipe A metaphor for interviews feeling like a strangling, suffocating pressure
lionized To be treated as a celebrity or person of great importance
interstices Small gaps or empty spaces in time used productively
semiotics The study of signs, symbols, and their interpretation
medieval aesthetics The study of beauty and art in the Middle Ages
3
Anticipation Guide: Do you agree or disagree? "Every public figure must accept being interviewed — it is the price of fame." Justify your position in 3–4 sentences.
This chapter takes both sides: those who see the interview as a vital window into public life (Denis Brian's view) and those who see it as a violation (Kipling, Carroll, Naipaul). Class 12 students should consider the ethics of public accountability versus personal privacy — and whether fame automatically surrenders one's right to that privacy.
Part I — The Nature and Controversy of the Interview
From Christopher Silvester's introduction to The Penguin Book of Interviews
P1
The interview, as a journalistic form, is approximately one hundred and thirty years old — yet it has become so deeply embedded in public life that it is difficult to imagine journalism without it. Nearly every literate person has read at least one interview in their lifetime, while thousands of celebrities have found themselves on the other side of the microphone, some of them dozens of times over. Given this ubiquity, it is unsurprising that people hold strongly divergent opinions about what the interview is, what it ought to accomplish, and whether it deserves respect as a genre.
Irony
P2
The most enthusiastic defenders of the interview claim, at its most elevated form, that it is a vehicle for truth — even an art form. On the other side, those who have been subjected to interviews — especially famous individuals who resent the intrusion — consider it an unjustified trespass into private life. Some even feel that an interview diminishes them in some ineffable way, as if a part of their inner self has been extracted without consent. intrusion This sentiment is evocatively compared, in certain ancient belief systems, to the idea that being photographed steals a fragment of the soul.
Simile
P3
The Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul articulated a similar unease, suggesting that certain individuals emerge from interviews wounded, as though they have surrendered something irreplaceable. Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice in Wonderland, was said to harbour a deep aversion — a "just horror" — towards interviewers, never once consenting to be interviewed. Those who persisted in approaching him were reportedly rebuffed with considerable satisfaction on his part. His resistance was not mere shyness, but a principled refusal to be lionized.
P4
Rudyard Kipling adopted an even more strident position. His wife Caroline recorded in her diary on 14 October 1892 that the day had been "wrecked by two reporters from Boston." She quotes Kipling's own words to those reporters: he described the act of interviewing as immoral — a crime equivalent to physical assault, deserving of punishment. He called it cowardly and contemptible, claiming no self-respecting individual would either request or submit to it. The Irony here is unmistakable: only a few years prior, Kipling himself had conducted exactly such an "assault" by interviewing the American author Mark Twain.
P5
H.G. Wells, writing in 1894, referred to the "interviewing ordeal," yet he remained a fairly willing interviewee throughout his life, and four decades later, rather remarkably, found himself on the opposite side of the process — interviewing the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Saul Bellow, though he accepted interview requests on multiple occasions, memorably described the experience as akin to "thumbprints on his windpipe." Imagery The phrase evokes a visceral sense of being pressured, constrained, or gasped into self-disclosure against one's better judgement.
P6
Despite all these objections and anxieties, the interview persists as what critic Denis Brian calls "a supremely serviceable medium of communication." Brian observes that in the contemporary world, our most vivid impressions of public figures reach us almost exclusively through interviews. "Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another," he writes. As a consequence, the interviewer occupies a position of extraordinary power — a position, Brian argues, of unprecedented influence over public perception and cultural memory.
Hyperbole
Read and Reflect — Part I
1. What are the two contrasting views on the value of interviews presented in Part I?
One view regards interviews as a source of truth and an art form at their best, a vital medium through which society understands its prominent members. The opposing view, held especially by celebrities, sees interviews as unwarranted invasions of privacy that diminish the interviewee — even extracting something of their essential self, like a stolen soul.
2. What does Saul Bellow mean by "thumbprints on his windpipe"?
The expression is a vivid metaphor suggesting that interviews leave a permanent, uncomfortable mark — like fingers pressing on one's throat. It conveys a sense of suffocation, coercion, and the feeling that the interview process forces one to reveal more than one intends, leaving the subject feeling both exposed and slightly violated.
3. What is the irony in Kipling's position on interviews?
Kipling condemned interviews as immoral and criminal — yet he had himself conducted an interview of Mark Twain only a few years before making these statements. This hypocrisy undermines his moral argument and provides the chapter's sharpest example of irony.
Theme Web — The Interview as a Communication Genre
Part II — Umberto Eco in Conversation
The following is an excerpt from an interview conducted by Mukund Padmanabhan of The Hindu with Professor Umberto Eco.
The Interview — Mukund Padmanabhan meets Umberto Eco
Q1
Mukund: The British novelist and academic David Lodge once remarked that he couldn't understand how one person could possibly accomplish everything that Eco managed to do. How do you respond to that?
A1
Eco: It may appear that I am constantly engaged in multiple different endeavours. But if I think carefully about it, I believe I am always doing essentially the same thing — just wearing different masks.
Q2
Mukund: And what might that single thing be?
A2
Eco: That is the harder question to answer. I have a cluster of philosophical passions, and I pursue them whether I am writing academic papers, novels, or even books for children — which, I should mention, are about non-violence and the ethics of peace. The same philosophical, ethical concerns thread through everything. And then there is my secret — the key to my productivity.
Consider what would happen if you could remove all the empty spaces from the universe — collapse all the spaces within atoms. The entire universe would fit inside my fist. Hyperbole Our lives, too, are full of such empty spaces. I call them interstices. The time in a lift. The pause while waiting for someone. The interval between one task and another. I inhabit these gaps. By the time your elevator has risen from floor one to floor three, I have already drafted an article. (Laughs.)
Consider what would happen if you could remove all the empty spaces from the universe — collapse all the spaces within atoms. The entire universe would fit inside my fist. Hyperbole Our lives, too, are full of such empty spaces. I call them interstices. The time in a lift. The pause while waiting for someone. The interval between one task and another. I inhabit these gaps. By the time your elevator has risen from floor one to floor three, I have already drafted an article. (Laughs.)
Q3
Mukund: Not everyone has that gift, of course. Your non-fiction writing has a quality about it that is distinctly personal and playful — a notable departure from the typically impersonal, dry register of academic prose. Was this a conscious stylistic choice, or did it emerge naturally?
A3
Eco: When I submitted my doctoral dissertation, one of my professors pointed out that while other scholars present their conclusions after a series of verified hypotheses, I had instead told the story of my research — including the false starts and the mistakes. He appreciated this, however, and published the dissertation as a book. That moment taught me, at age twenty-two, that scholarly writing should read like a narrative. Which is also, probably, why I came to fiction writing so late — only in my fifties.
I think of my friend Roland Barthes, who longed to write a novel and died before he could. I never experienced that frustration. I came to novel writing by accident — I had nothing else to do one day and simply began. Novels gave me the narrative dimension I had always incorporated into my essays. Irony
I think of my friend Roland Barthes, who longed to write a novel and died before he could. I never experienced that frustration. I came to novel writing by accident — I had nothing else to do one day and simply began. Novels gave me the narrative dimension I had always incorporated into my essays. Irony
Q4
Mukund: You have written five novels against over forty works of non-fiction. Yet if you ask the average person about Umberto Eco, they will say, "Oh, he's the novelist." Does that bother you?
A4
Eco: Yes, it does — because I genuinely see myself as a university professor who writes novels on Sundays. That is not self-deprecation; it is how I identify. I attend academic conferences, not literary festivals. I belong to the scholarly community. But if people have only read my novels — (laughs and shrugs) — I understand. I cannot realistically expect a million readers for a text on semiotics.
Q5
Mukund: The Name of the Rose is both a detective yarn and a serious intellectual exploration of metaphysics, theology, and medieval history. Were you surprised that it achieved such a mass readership?
A5
Eco: Not in the least — though journalists and publishers were surprised, because they tend to assume audiences want easy material. Out of six billion people, my novel sold perhaps fifteen million copies — a relatively small percentage. But those readers were precisely the ones who relish demanding reading experiences. Even I, at nine o'clock in the evening after dinner, reach for light entertainment on television. But not exclusively, and not always.
My American publisher expected to sell only three thousand copies, since Americans had never seen a medieval cathedral or studied Latin. In the end, it sold two or three million there alone. The success of the book remains, in my view, a genuine mystery. Had I written it ten years earlier or ten years later, it might not have resonated the same way. The moment matters. Irony
My American publisher expected to sell only three thousand copies, since Americans had never seen a medieval cathedral or studied Latin. In the end, it sold two or three million there alone. The success of the book remains, in my view, a genuine mystery. Had I written it ten years earlier or ten years later, it might not have resonated the same way. The moment matters. Irony
Understanding the Text — Part II
1. Do you think Umberto Eco enjoys being interviewed? Give reasons.
Yes, Eco appears relatively comfortable in interviews, unlike the celebrities described in Part I. He is expansive and anecdotal, sharing personal stories about Roland Barthes and his doctoral professor. His laughter and digressions suggest someone who enjoys narration and intellectual conversation. Unlike Kipling or Carroll, he does not reject the medium — which is consistent with his scholarly belief in storytelling as the best form of explanation.
2. How does Eco find time to write so prolifically?
Eco's secret lies in his use of "interstices" — the empty, transitional gaps of time that most people allow to pass unused: waiting in a lift, standing in a queue, pausing between meetings. He fills these intervals with creative and scholarly work, effectively multiplying his productive hours without extending his formal working day.
3. How does Eco see the relationship between his academic and fictional writing?
Eco does not see them as separate endeavours at all. He sees himself as always doing the same thing — pursuing philosophical and ethical interests through different forms. His academic writing already had a narrative quality (the "story of the research"), and his novels are informed by his scholarly obsessions with semiotics, medieval history, and aesthetics. The distinction is one of form, not of substance.
Vocabulary — Chapter 7
commonplace
adjective / noun
Something so ordinary or widespread that it no longer seems remarkable.
"The interview has become a commonplace of journalism."
extravagant
adjective
Exceeding reasonable bounds; exaggerated or excessive in claims or behaviour.
"Some make quite extravagant claims for the interview as a source of truth."
intrusion
noun
An unwanted entry or disturbance into someone's private space or affairs.
"Celebrities often despise the interview as an unwarranted intrusion into their lives."
condemnatory
adjective
Expressing strong disapproval or outright condemnation.
"Kipling expressed an even more condemnatory attitude towards the interviewer."
interstices
noun (plural)
Small gaps or intervals in time; transitional empty spaces.
"I work in empty spaces — what I call interstices."
semiotics
noun
The study of signs and symbols and their meaning, interpretation, and use.
"Eco acquired a formidable reputation for his ideas on semiotics."
formidable
adjective
Inspiring awe or respect due to great ability, size, or difficulty.
"He had already acquired a formidable reputation as a scholar."
unprecedented
adjective
Never having occurred or existed before; novel in character.
"The interviewer holds a position of unprecedented power and influence."
Extract-Based Questions (CBQ Format) — CBSE Class 12
Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Extract 1 — From Part I
"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 impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews. Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another."
Q1. What does "supremely serviceable medium" suggest about the role of interviews?L2 Understand
The phrase suggests that despite its many critics and controversies, the interview is exceptionally useful and effective as a means of communication. "Supremely" emphasises that it is not merely adequate but outstanding in its function. "Serviceable" implies practical utility — it gets the job done. Together, the phrase argues that whatever personal discomfort it may cause, the interview's social value as an information-sharing tool cannot be denied.
Q2. What does "our most vivid impressions of our contemporaries" reveal about how we understand public figures?L4 Analyse
The word "vivid" is significant — it suggests that interviews provide not merely factual information but a sense of personality, emotion, and immediacy that other media cannot replicate. Our understanding of politicians, artists, and intellectuals is shaped fundamentally by interview excerpts — the tone, the spontaneity, the revealing slip of phrase. This means our entire perception of the public world is filtered through interview-formatted encounters.
Q3. How does Denis Brian's observation support the interview's case for being a legitimate journalistic form?L5 Evaluate
Brian's observation functions as the author's counter-argument to all the celebrity critics. By pointing out that the interview is the dominant mode through which contemporary events become known, he elevates the interviewer to a position of extraordinary cultural importance. This effectively argues that the interview's social benefits — public accountability, democratic access to knowledge — outweigh the personal discomfort of those interviewed.
Q4. "Almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another." Write a short paragraph (80 words) evaluating whether this statement holds true in the age of social media.L6 Create
Brian's statement was written before social media transformed communication. Today, public figures can bypass the interviewer entirely — posting directly to millions on Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube. In one sense, this has diminished the interview's monopoly on shaping public image. Yet the interview persists — podcast interviews, long-form journalism, and press conferences still shape narratives significantly. The fundamental dynamic (questioner and questioned) continues, just in more fragmented forms. Brian's insight remains partially true: structured questioning still yields uniquely revealing information.
Extract 2 — From Part II (Umberto Eco)
"I am convinced I am always doing the same thing... 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."
Q1. What does Eco mean by saying he is "always doing the same thing"?L2 Understand
Eco means that despite the variety of forms his writing takes — academic essays, detective novels, children's books, newspaper articles — the underlying intellectual and ethical preoccupations remain constant. He is always exploring the same philosophical questions, just through different genres. This statement challenges the common assumption that versatility implies scattered interests; for Eco, variety of form coexists with unity of purpose.
Q2. What does the reference to children's books reveal about Eco's character as a thinker?L4 Analyse
By mentioning that even his children's books carry the same ethical core as his academic work, Eco reveals that he does not compartmentalise his intellectual identity. He is not a serious scholar who relaxes into "simple" work for children; even there, he pursues themes of non-violence and peace. This suggests a deeply integrated personality — someone who cannot separate his thinking from his living. It also demonstrates intellectual consistency and philosophical earnestness.
Q3. Why does Eco's self-description as "a professor who writes novels on Sundays" carry irony?L5 Evaluate
The irony is that his "Sunday novels" have made him globally famous to an audience of millions, while his primary professional identity as a professor is known only to a relatively small academic community. He is most celebrated for what he considers his secondary, leisure activity — and his principal vocation, which he considers central to his identity, is largely invisible to the general public. His novels dwarf his academic works in public consciousness, the exact reverse of how he perceives himself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Interview – 1 about in NCERT English?
The Interview – 1 is a lesson from the NCERT English textbook that covers important literary and language concepts. The lesson includes vocabulary, literary devices, comprehension exercises, and writing tasks aligned to the CBSE curriculum.
What vocabulary is important in The Interview – 1?
Key vocabulary words from The Interview – 1 are highlighted throughout with contextual meanings, usage examples, and interesting facts. Click any highlighted word to see its full definition and example sentence.
What literary devices are used in The Interview – 1?
The Interview – 1 uses various literary devices including imagery, symbolism, and figurative language. These are identified with coloured tags throughout the text for easy recognition and understanding by students.
What exercises are included for The Interview – 1?
Exercises include extract-based comprehension questions in CBSE board exam format, grammar workshops connected to the passage, vocabulary activities, and creative writing tasks with model answers provided.
How does The Interview – 1 help in board exam preparation?
The Interview – 1 includes CBSE-format extract-based questions, long answer practice with model responses, and grammar exercises that mirror board exam patterns. All questions follow Bloom's Taxonomy levels L1-L6.
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