Why do famous authors like V.S. Naipaul and Rudyard Kipling despise journalism interviews as 'an assault' and 'a moral crime', while Italian philosopher Umberto Eco gave brilliant interviews revealing how he wrote a 50-million-copy bestseller novel in the empty 'interstices' of his day? Christopher Silvester explores the art of the interview.
Why This Chapter Matters
In Class 12 English, "The Interview" provides an authoritative, curriculum-verified master resource aligned with the 2026–27 NCERT syllabus.
Before You Begin (Prerequisites)
Journalism history.
Celebrity privacy vs public right to know.
Umberto Eco's semiotics.
What You Will Learn (Core Objectives)
Analyze Part I: Diverse opinions on the Interview: V.S. Naipaul ('wounded by interviews'), Lewis Carroll (horror of lionization), Rudyard Kipling ('cowardly crime'), H.G. Wells, Saul Bellow.
Analyze Part II: Mukund Padmanabhan's famous interview with academic and novelist Umberto Eco.
Explain Umberto Eco's philosophy of 'Interstices' (empty spaces of time used for writing).
Analyze Eco's scholarly identity: Academic professor of semiotics first, weekend novelist second.
Evaluate the phenomenal international success of his intellectual novel 'The Name of the Rose'.
Chapter Roadmap & Progression
11. The Interview: Assault or Servic...
22. Umberto Eco & The Secret of Inte...
33. The Name of the Rose
Complete Concept Guide (100% Curriculum Coverage)
1. The Interview: Assault or Service?
Invented over 130 years ago, the interview is hailed by journalists as our supreme source of truth, yet reviled by creative artists. V.S. Naipaul feels people are wounded and lose a part of themselves in interviews; Lewis Carroll harbored a morbid horror of the interviewer; Rudyard Kipling called interviewing 'immoral, a crime, an assault that merits punishment'.
2. Umberto Eco & The Secret of Interstices
In Part II, The Hindu journalist Mukund Padmanabhan interviews Umberto Eco, a professor of semiotics at Bologna University. Asked how he produces massive academic texts, essays, and novels, Eco reveals his secret: Interstices (empty spaces)! 'If you are coming up in an elevator to my floor, while you are traveling between floors 1 and 3, I am waiting for you — and in that empty gap, I have already written an article!'
3. The Name of the Rose
Eco views himself as an academic scholar who writes novels only on Sundays. His medieval murder mystery novel, The Name of the Rose, sold over 10 million copies worldwide! Despite being packed with medieval theology, Latin quotes, and metaphysics, readers devoured it — proving that people do not crave only shallow trash, but love challenging, intellectual literature.
The Interview - Key Literary & Thematic Analysis Model
Chapter Summary & 10 Key Takeaways
Takeaway 1
Interstices Theory: Exploiting empty interstitial gaps in time to produce massive creative output.
Takeaway 2
The Name of the Rose: Bestselling medieval theological mystery novel that defied publishing logic.
Takeaway 3
Kipling's Denunciation: Calling interviews cowardly assaults and immoral violations of privacy.
Takeaway 4
Semiotics: The academic study of signs, symbols, and cultural communication codes.
Takeaway 5
Umberto Eco: Italian intellectual who saw novels as Sunday entertainment.
Check Your Understanding (Diagnostic Practice Questions)
Diagnostic questions testing core conceptual clarity. Answers are hidden initially — solve each problem first, then click to reveal the step-by-step verified solution.
1
What are some of the negative opinions expressed by celebrities regarding interviews in Part I?
Reveal Answer & Explanation
Answer: V.S. Naipaul feels people are wounded and lose a part of themselves; Lewis Carroll feared being lionized; Rudyard Kipling considered interviewing a cowardly assault and an immoral crime; Saul Bellow described interviews as thumbprints on his windpipe. Viewed as an assault, loss of soul, cowardly crime, and thumbprints on the windpipe.
2
What is Umberto Eco's theory of 'Interstices'? How does he use it to achieve immense productivity?
Reveal Answer & Explanation
Answer: Eco explains that our lives contain vast amounts of empty spaces (interstices)—like waiting for an elevator to ascend or waiting between appointments. Rather than wasting these micro-intervals, Eco uses every spare minute to write articles and think. Utilizes micro-gaps of free time (interstices) between daily activities to write.
3
How did Umberto Eco view his own professional identity?
Reveal Answer & Explanation
Answer: He considered himself primarily an academic university professor of semiotics who published over 40 scholarly books and attended academic conferences on weekdays, and wrote novels only on Sundays as an intellectual hobby. A university professor first, and a novelist only on Sundays.
4
Why was the phenomenal success of 'The Name of the Rose' considered a mystery to publishers?
Reveal Answer & Explanation
Answer: Publishers believed the public preferred light, trashy, easy-to-read novels; 'The Name of the Rose' was a dense, 500-page medieval detective novel loaded with Latin, theology, and philosophy, yet it sold over 10 million copies. Intellectual novel packed with Latin and theology became a 10-million bestseller.
5
What did Denis Brian say about the power and importance of the interview in modern society?
Reveal Answer & Explanation
Answer: He stated that almost everything of moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another, making the interviewer hold a position of unprecedented power and influence in contemporary society. Interviews are our primary source of truth, giving interviewers immense power.
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