Why is the chapter called 'The Interview' and not 'Umberto Eco'?

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CBSE Class 12 English★ 4-8 marks · CBSE Class 12 English Core (Flamingo Prose) Chapter 7

The Interview (Christopher Silvester)

Some celebrities LOATHE interviews. Others see them as essential. Christopher Silvester's essay explores the history and psychology of the interview — followed by an extract from a famous interview with Umberto Eco, the Italian novelist-philosopher. CBSE Class 12 English (Flamingo) Prose Chapter 7.

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By the end of this chapter you'll be able to…

1Distinguish between the two parts: Christopher Silvester's essay on the interview as a journalistic form, and Mukund Padmanabhan's interview with Umberto Eco
2Explain the contrasting views on interviews: those who see it as a valuable tool (for history, journalism, human understanding) vs those who object to it (invasion of privacy, distortion of truth)
3Describe Umberto Eco's personality and working method, especially the concept of 'interstices'
4Explain why 'The Name of the Rose' became a worldwide bestseller despite being a difficult, scholarly novel
5Identify the key literary device in the chapter: the juxtaposition of a general discussion with a specific demonstration

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Why this chapter matters

The Interview is a short chapter with TWO PARTS — a general essay on the interview form (by Christopher Silvester) and an interview with the novelist Umberto Eco (by Mukund Padmanabhan). CBSE exams focus on the contrasting views about interviews and on Eco's personality, especially the concept of 'interstices' (the empty spaces in life he fills with writing). Extract-based MCQs from this chapter test vocabulary and comprehension precisely.

The Interview — Christopher Silvester

"Every famous person has a love-hate relationship with the interview. Mostly hate."

1. About the Chapter

'The Interview' has TWO PARTS: Part I, an essay by Christopher Silvester on the history and nature of the interview — why celebrities find them intrusive, and why journalists (and readers) find them indispensable. Part II is an EXTRACT from an interview with Umberto Eco (Italian novelist and semiotician, 1932–2016), conducted by Mukund Padmanabhan of The Hindu. Eco reveals his writing process, his philosophy of 'interstices' (using empty spaces of time), and the surprising secret behind the success of 'The Name of the Rose.'

2. Part I — The Interview as a Genre (Christopher Silvester)

What Is an Interview?

The interview was 'INVENTED' over 130 years ago. It is now so ubiquitous that it's the 'commonplace of journalism.'
'Almost everybody who is literate will have read an interview.'
The interview is a GENRE — with its own conventions, ethics, and controversies.

The Celebrity's View — 'Unwarranted Intrusion'

Many famous people DETEST interviews:
- V.S. Naipaul: 'The interview is a form of aggression.'
- Rudyard Kipling: 'Today I am interviewed. Tomorrow I shall have no further wish to be interviewed.'
- H.G. Wells: found them tedious
- Saul Bellow: 'Interviews are like thumbprints on my windpipe.'
The common complaint: interviews INVADE PRIVACY. They reduce complex people to SOUNDBITES. They MISREPRESENT.

The Journalist's / Reader's View — 'A Service to the Public'

'The interview is a supremely serviceable medium of communication.'
Readers WANT to know about the lives and thoughts of famous people
The interview is the most VIVID way to bring a personality ALIVE on the page
'The modern celebrity is a creature of the interview.'

The Interview's Dual Nature

It is simultaneously: an INTRUSION (into the subject's privacy) and a SERVICE (to the public's curiosity)
The best interviews: somewhere between interrogation and conversation

3. Part II — The Interview with Umberto Eco

Who Was Umberto Eco?

Italian novelist, philosopher, and SEMIOTICIAN (the study of signs and symbols)
Wrote the international bestseller 'The Name of the Rose' (1980) — a medieval detective novel that sold MILLIONS of copies
A PROFESSOR before he was a novelist. His academic work on semiotics was highly respected.
The question: how does a 50-year-old professor suddenly become a bestselling novelist?

Eco on Writing and Time — 'The Philosophy of Interstices'

Interviewer's question: 'You have written five novels and many scholarly works. How do you manage to do so much?'
Eco's answer: 'I use the EMPTY SPACES — the interstices.'
Interstices = the gaps, the in-between moments. Waiting for an elevator. Travelling on a train. The minutes between appointments.
'I work in the empty spaces. While others are waiting, I am working.'
This is NOT about being a WORKAHOLIC. It's about USING TIME that others WASTE.

Eco on 'The Name of the Rose' — The Secret of Its Success

Interviewer: 'The Name of the Rose is a difficult novel. It's about medieval history, theology, and philosophy. Yet it became a MASSIVE bestseller. Why?'
Eco's answer: 'I have NO idea. If I knew how to write a bestseller, I would write one every year.'
He speculates: perhaps the timing was right. Perhaps readers were hungry for 'a novel that made them think.'
'It was written for a reader who wants to be challenged.'

Eco's Modesty and Humour

Despite being one of the most famous intellectuals in the world, Eco is SELF-DEPRECATING
He distinguishes between himself and his PUBLIC IMAGE: 'I am a university professor who writes novels on Sundays.'
He does NOT take his fame seriously. He prefers to be seen as an ACADEMIC who happened to write a popular novel.

4. Themes

1. The Ethics of the Interview

Should we 'invade' a person's privacy to satisfy public curiosity? The essay presents BOTH sides — the celebrity's resentment AND the journalist's defence. It doesn't pick a winner. It lets the reader decide.

2. Time, Productivity, and 'Interstices'

Eco's philosophy of using 'empty spaces' is the most MEMORABLE part of the chapter. It's not about working HARDER — it's about not WASTING the moments between tasks. 'While others are waiting, I am working.'

3. The Mystery of Success

Eco's honest admission — 'I have no idea why it sold so many copies' — is REFRESHING. It challenges the myth that success can be PLANNED and REPLICATED. Sometimes, a book finds its audience for reasons the author can't explain.

4. The Public Image vs The Private Self

Eco distinguishes between 'Umberto Eco the famous novelist' (a media creation) and 'Umberto Eco the university professor who writes on Sundays' (the real person). The interview BOTH constructs and challenges this dual identity.

5. Key Lines

"The interview is a supremely serviceable medium of communication."
"I use the empty spaces — the interstices."
"I am a university professor who writes novels on Sundays."
"If I knew how to write a bestseller, I would write one every year."

6. Common Mistakes

Eco's success was due to a 'formula' — He explicitly DENIES this. He doesn't know why it sold. He can't replicate it. The novel's success baffled him as much as anyone.
'Interstices' are the main topic of Part I — NO. Part I is about the INTERVIEW as a genre. Part II (the Eco interview) introduces interstices. The two parts are connected by the FORM (an interview) but cover different content.

7. Conclusion

'The Interview' is a TWO-PART CHAPTER:

Part I: The interview as a JOURNALISTIC FORM — loved by readers, loathed by many celebrities. A debate about privacy, publicity, and the public's right to know.
Part II: An INTERVIEW with Umberto Eco — who reveals his secret (the interstices), his bafflement at his own success, and the gap between his public and private selves.

'The Interview' — a chapter that is ITSELF an interview about interviews, followed by an interview that shows why interviews are worth reading.

Key formulas & results

Everything you need to memorise, in one card. Screenshot this for revision.

Part 1 Author: Christopher Silvester

British journalist and editor. Compiled 'The Penguin Book of Interviews' (1993), from which the first part of this chapter is excerpted. The interview he discusses originated as a journalistic form in the late 19th century, first credited to Horace Greeley's 1859 interview with Brigham Young.

MCQs ask: who wrote Part 1 (Christopher Silvester), what book it is from ('The Penguin Book of Interviews', 1993), and when interviews began as a journalistic form (late 19th century).

Part 2: Umberto Eco (1932–2016)

Italian novelist, semiotician, philosopher, and academic. Born in Alessandria, Italy. Professor at University of Bologna. Famous for: 'The Name of the Rose' (1980), 'Foucault's Pendulum' (1988). Interviewed by MUKUND PADMANABHAN for 'The Hindu' newspaper.

MCQs ask: Eco's nationality (Italian), his profession (novelist AND academic semiotician), who interviewed him (Mukund Padmanabhan), and the newspaper (The Hindu).

The Concept of 'Interstices'

Umberto Eco says he has 'interstices' — small gaps and empty moments in academic and social life (waiting for an elevator, a two-minute break between appointments, etc.) — and he fills these with writing. He claims this is why he can write so much: he uses time that others waste.

This is the most-tested concept from the Eco interview. 'Interstices' means the gaps/spaces between activities. Eco's point: it is not about having MORE time, but about using the SMALL gaps others overlook.

Two Views on Interviews

PRO-INTERVIEW VIEW (Christopher Silvester): Interviews are invaluable for historical record, journalism, understanding great minds, and preserving testimonies that would otherwise be lost. ANTI-INTERVIEW VIEW (various celebrities quoted): V.S. Naipaul, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling all had objections — interviews are intrusive, distort the subject, reduce complex personalities to simplistic quotes, and violate privacy.

CBSE exams often ask: 'What are the drawbacks of interviews?' or 'What do critics say about the interview form?' Know both perspectives with at least one named critic.

'The Name of the Rose' — Why a Medieval Mystery Became a Bestseller

Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' (1980) is a dense, scholarly detective novel set in a medieval monastery, involving biblical exegesis, semiotics, and medieval theology. Eco expected it to have a very limited academic readership — instead it became a global bestseller, eventually selling 50 million copies. Eco attributes this partly to the public's appetite for intellectual challenge.

MCQs ask: year of publication (1980), the novel's setting (medieval monastery), and why Eco was surprised by its success (he expected limited academic readership).

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Common mistakes & fixes

These are the exact errors that cost students marks in board exams. Read them once, save yourself the trouble.

WATCH OUT

✗ Writing that the chapter is entirely about Umberto Eco

✓ The chapter has TWO DISTINCT PARTS: Part 1 is Christopher Silvester's general essay on the history and nature of interviews as a journalistic form. Part 2 is Mukund Padmanabhan's interview with Eco. Both are equally examined and must be known separately.

WATCH OUT

✗ Spelling or identifying the interviewer incorrectly

✓ The interviewer is MUKUND PADMANABHAN, a journalist for The Hindu. Not Umberto Eco (he is the interviewee). Not Christopher Silvester (he wrote Part 1 about interviews generally, not the Eco interview).

WATCH OUT

✗ Saying Eco filled 'blank pages' or 'free time' with writing instead of 'interstices'

✓ 'Interstices' is the specific term Eco uses — it means the very small gaps between other activities (a few minutes while an elevator comes, a pause between appointments). These are not 'blank pages' or 'free afternoons' — they are tiny, normally wasted moments. The precision of the word matters for MCQ vocabulary questions.

NCERT exercises (with solutions)

Every NCERT exercise from this chapter — what it covers and how many questions to expect.

Reading with Insight

Questions on the two views of interviews, Eco's personality, the concept of interstices, why 'The Name of the Rose' succeeded, and what the chapter reveals about the relationship between academic work and creative writing

Questions

Practice problems

Try each one yourself before tapping "Show solution". Active recall > rereading.

Q1EASY· interstices

What does Umberto Eco mean by 'interstices'? How does he use them?

▶ Show solution

Umberto Eco uses 'interstices' to describe the small, empty gaps between his scheduled activities — a two-minute wait for an elevator, a brief pause between two appointments, the moments while someone is getting coffee. These are tiny slivers of time that most people waste by doing nothing or staring into space. Eco fills these with writing. He claims this practice allows him to be extraordinarily productive despite a demanding academic schedule — not because he has more time than others, but because he uses time they overlook.

Q2MEDIUM· interview-views

What are the contrasting views on the interview as a journalistic form discussed in Part 1 of 'The Interview'?

▶ Show solution

Christopher Silvester presents both the PRO and ANTI views: PRO-INTERVIEW PERSPECTIVE: The interview is invaluable for journalism and historical record. First used in the late 19th century, it has become a crucial tool for preserving the testimonies and thoughts of great minds, politicians, artists, and thinkers. It provides direct access to personalities that written biography alone cannot capture. Without interviews, many important conversations would be lost to history. ANTI-INTERVIEW PERSPECTIVE: Several notable figures have expressed strong objections. V.S. Naipaul said that interviews leave one 'dispossessed' — the interviewer owns your words after the interview, not you. Lewis Carroll refused all interviews. Rudyard Kipling was deeply hostile. Critics argue that: (1) Interviews reduce complex personalities to simplified, quotable statements; (2) Interview subjects say things in the heat of conversation that they would not write carefully; (3) The interview format invades privacy; (4) Interviewers often distort or take statements out of context. CONCLUSION: Silvester acknowledges both views but suggests interviews are here to stay — they are too valuable for journalism and history to be abandoned because some subjects dislike them.

Q3HARD· long-answer

Based on Part 2 of 'The Interview', what kind of personality does Umberto Eco emerge as? What does the interview reveal about his relationship to writing and academic work?

▶ Show solution

MULTIPLE IDENTITIES — ACADEMIC AND NOVELIST: Umberto Eco presents a fascinating duality. He is primarily an ACADEMIC — a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna, known for densely theoretical books on signs and meaning. He is also a NOVELIST whose 'The Name of the Rose' (1980) became one of the greatest international bestsellers, eventually selling 50 million copies worldwide. He holds both identities without apology and does not see them as contradictory — academic rigour and narrative storytelling are both part of who he is. THE CONCEPT OF INTERSTICES — A PHILOSOPHY OF TIME: Eco's revelation about 'interstices' is central to understanding his personality. He is not merely productive — he is philosophically committed to the idea that the quality of a life is measured by what you do with its smallest gaps. Where others see a two-minute wait as empty time, Eco sees a creative opportunity. This is not just a time-management tip; it reflects a deep belief that creativity is a practice of PRESENCE, not a gift of leisure. SURPRISE AT 'THE NAME OF THE ROSE': Eco expected 'The Name of the Rose' to have perhaps a few thousand academic readers — it was about medieval theology and semiotics set in a monastery, with appendices and Latin passages. Its global success surprised him. He attributes this partly to the public's genuine appetite for intellectual challenge — readers want to be stretched, not just entertained. This insight reveals Eco's modest, self-deprecating side: a man who underestimated the reach of his own work. THE INTERVIEW AS FORM: The Eco interview illustrates the chapter's overall argument about interviews. Mukund Padmanabhan captures in an hour what a written biography might not convey in a chapter: Eco's wit, his genuine surprise at his success, his practical philosophy of time, and his refusal to simplify himself into either 'novelist' or 'academic'. This is the best argument FOR the interview form.

5-minute revision

The whole chapter, distilled. Read this the night before the exam.

•Chapter has TWO parts: Part 1 = Christopher Silvester's essay on interviews; Part 2 = Mukund Padmanabhan interviews Umberto Eco for The Hindu
•Christopher Silvester: British journalist, 'The Penguin Book of Interviews' (1993); interview as journalistic form originated late 19th century
•Umberto Eco (1932–2016): Italian; semiotician, philosopher, novelist; University of Bologna; 'The Name of the Rose' (1980) — expected limited readership but sold 50 million+ copies
•Interstices: tiny empty gaps between activities (elevator wait, pauses between appointments) — Eco fills these with writing instead of wasting them
•Two views: PRO (invaluable for journalism/history, preserves great minds' thoughts) vs ANTI (invasion of privacy, distorts personality, subject is 'dispossessed' of their own words — V.S. Naipaul)
•V.S. Naipaul said interviews leave one 'dispossessed' — the interviewer owns your words after the conversation
•The interview both discusses interviews (Part 1) and demonstrates them (Part 2) — a deliberate structural juxtaposition

CBSE marks blueprint

Where the marks come from in this chapter — so you can plan your prep.

Typical chapter weightage: 4-8 marks

Question type	Marks each	Typical count	What it tests
Extract-based MCQ	4-5	1	Vocabulary questions on 'interstices', 'dispossessed', 'luminous'; comprehension of Eco's views on writing
Short Answer	2	1	What interstices means, contrasting views on interviews, who interviewed Eco and for which paper

Prep strategy

Know the FOUR key facts about the chapter structure: Part 1 (Christopher Silvester, 'The Penguin Book of Interviews', 1993) + Part 2 (Mukund Padmanabhan interviews Umberto Eco for The Hindu)
Memorise 'interstices' precisely — many students write 'free time' or 'spare time' when the word specifically means the SMALL GAPS between activities; MCQ vocabulary questions test this precision
For the two views on interviews: know at least ONE named critic (V.S. Naipaul — 'leaves one dispossessed') and the general PRO argument (invaluable for history/journalism)

Where this shows up in the real world

This chapter isn't just an exam topic — it lives in the world around you.

Journalism and the Interview

The journalistic interview remains the most important tool for political accountability, celebrity culture, and public discourse. Debates about interview ethics — whether subjects are fairly represented, whether quotes are taken out of context, whether celebrity interviews serve the public or just publicity — are live concerns in 2026, especially on social media.

Exam strategy

Battle-tested tips from teachers and toppers for this chapter.

For MCQ on 'interstices': the answer is the small gaps between activities — NOT 'free time', NOT 'spare hours'; the word's precision is what's being tested
For 'two views on interviews' short answer: always give ONE named person on the anti side (V.S. Naipaul: 'dispossessed') to score full marks — anonymous general objections are weaker answers

Going beyond the textbook

For olympiad aspirants and curious learners — topics that build on this chapter.

Read Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' — the novel is genuinely demanding but extraordinarily rewarding; understanding why it became a bestseller tells you a great deal about what readers actually want from literary fiction

Where else this chapter is tested

CBSE board isn't the only one — other exams test this chapter too.

CBSE Class 12 Board (English Core)High

CUET (English)Medium

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Questions students ask

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The chapter is about the INTERVIEW as a form — not just about Eco. Part 1 discusses what interviews are, their history, and the debates about them. Part 2 then illustrates this by presenting an actual interview with Eco. The title 'The Interview' reflects the chapter's broader subject: the form itself, which it both examines critically (Part 1) and demonstrates in practice (Part 2).

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