The Interview Class 12 MCQ Quiz – Test Your Understanding!

Why does Christopher Silvester describe the viewpoints of other writers and authors when discussing the concept of an interview?

Saul Bellow, who has consented to be interviewed on several occasions, nevertheless once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. 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,” Denis Brian has written. “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.”

According to Saul Bellow, interviews are like thumbprints on his windpipe. What emotion might best describe such an image?

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, just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person’s soul.

On the basis of the extract, choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below.

1. Celebrities don’t consent to be interviewed.
2. Interviews intrude on the privacy of celebrities.

Mukund Padmanabhan mentions that much like his novels, Umberto Eco’s “scholarly work has a certain playful and personal quality about it.” To what is this attributed?

How does the author's writing style in 'The Interview' affect the reader's understanding of the story?

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, just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person’s soul.

The author’s views on the interview, in the extract, can best be described as statements based on ______.

How does the author's writing style in "The Interview" engage the reader?

“I work in empty spaces”. Choose the option that most accurately captures Eco’s idea of empty spaces.

1. management of time
2. organization of space
3. philosophical inclination
4. command of thought

Saul Bellow, who has consented to be interviewed on several occasions, nevertheless once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. 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,” Denis Brian has written. “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.”

How would you describe Denis Brian’s opinion on interviews? Choose the most appropriate option.

1. appeasing
2. utilitarian
3. approving
4. praising

Umberto Eco states that ‘empty spaces’ actually fill spaces, and without them, the universe would be the size of a human fist. He also goes on to say that it is in an interstice such as waiting, which the dictionary defines as a time for pause, that he works. That is, passive waiting is essentially active writing time. Choose the literary device that best describes what Eco does with the concepts of ‘empty spaces’ and ‘waiting’.

What does Umberto Eco mean by saying that if he had written "The Name of the Rose" ten years earlier or ten years later, it wouldn't have been the same?

Maybe I give the impression of doing many things. But in the end, I am convinced I am always doing the same thing… 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.

Read the questions given below. Imagine they were interjections raised by the interviewer based on the above extract. Choose the option that correctly describes the given questions.

1. If you are “always doing the same thing”, isn’t your work lacking in originality?
2. Could you elaborate on these larger ethical, philosophical interests that inform your work?
3. All writing happens in empty spaces. In fact, why don’t I tell you all about my experiences?

What skills must interviewers have to conduct good and ethical interviews?

So it is hardly surprising that opinions of the interview --- of its functions, methods, and merits --- vary considerably. 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, just as in some primitive cultures it is believed that if one takes a photographic portrait of somebody then one is stealing that person's soul. V. S. Naipaul feels that 'Some people are wounded by interviews and lose a part of themselves.' Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice in Wonderland, was said to have had 'a just horror of the interviewer' and he never consented to be interviewed.

What tone does the author of the extract have while describing the interview?

Saul Bellow, who has consented to be interviewed on several occasions, nevertheless once described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. 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,” Denis Brian has written. “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.”

The use of the word “serviceable” implies that interviews are _________