Class 12 English Previous Year: Short Questions with Answers- The Interview

Short Answer Questions (2025)

Q1: What valid reason does Rudyard Kipling have to call an interview immoral?

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​Ans: Rudyard Kipling calls an interview immoral because he believes it invades personal privacy, extracting intimate details without consent, akin to a “crime” against one’s dignity, as it exploits vulnerability for public consumption.

Q2: How did Umberto Eco display his innovative style in the presentation of his dissertation?

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​Ans: Umberto Eco displayed his innovative style by structuring his dissertation narratively, like a detective story, making complex academic content engaging and accessible, reflecting his ability to blend scholarly rigor with creative storytelling.

Q3: Bring out Umberto Eco’s humility and modesty as evident in "The Interview".

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​Ans: Umberto Eco’s humility is evident when he attributes his success to working in “interstices,” downplaying his prolific output. His modesty shines in describing his novels as accidental, crediting productivity to time management rather than boasting of his intellectual achievements.

Q4: Explain why Umberto Eco said, "I started writing novels by accident."

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Ans: Umberto Eco said he started writing novels by accident because, as an academic, he stumbled into fiction when invited to contribute a story, not planning it as a career, with his first novel emerging unexpectedly from his scholarly interests.

Previous Year Short Answer Questions 

Q.1. What are some of the positive views on interviews?
Ans. The interview is a source of truth. These days, we get the most vivid impressions of our contemporaries through interviews. Interview is a supremely serviceable medium of communication.

Q.2. Why do most celebrity writers despise being interviewed?
Ans. Most celebrity writers see themselves as the victims of interview. They consider it as an unwarranted intrusion into their private lives. They feel that it somehow diminishes them.

Q.3. What is the belief in some primitive cultures about being photographed?
Ans. Some primitive cultures believe that if you are photographed, your soul is stolen.

Q.4. What do you understand by the expression “thumbprints on his windpipe”?
Ans. I think that it means that he felt as if he was being strangled.

Q.5. Who, in today’s world, is our chief source of information about personalities?
Ans. In today’s world, the interview, one man asking questions of another, is our chief source of interview.

Q.6. Do you think Umberto Eco likes being interviewed? Give reasons for your opinion.
Ans. I think Umberto Eco enjoys being interviewed. He is at ease with the interviewee. He tries to answer each question in full. He is not harsh. He is not in a hurry.

Q.7. How does Eco find the time to write so much?
Ans. Eco does not waste a second of his time. Even while he is waiting for someone, he would write something before his visitor reaches him. He fills his empty time with work.

Q.8. What was distinctive about Eco’s academic working style?
Ans. Eco’s style of academic writing is narrative. It is personalized. It is interesting. It is different from the regular academic style of writing which is depersonalized, dull and boring.

Q.9. Did Umberto Eco considered himself a novelist first or an academic scholar?
Ans. Umberto Eco considered himself an academic scholar first. He identified himself with the academic community. He participated in academic conferences, but did not attend writers’ meetings. In his own words, he was a university professor who wrote novels on Sundays.

Q.10. What is the reason for the huge success of the novel, The Name of the Rose?
Ans. The Name of the Rose is a very serious novel. At one level, it is a detective story. At the other level, it also delves deep into mythology and metaphysics. It is set in a period of medieval history. Of course, there are people who like serious reading material. Yet the huge popularity of the novel remains a mystery. Perhaps the time of its publication was favourable.

Q.11. Interviews are necessary. Justify the statement.
Ans. Despite the drawbacks of interviews they are supremely serviceable medium of communication. They are an art and a source of truth. We know about our contemporary celebrities and others through their interviews.

Q.12. Do you think Eco’s non-fictional writing style is a departure from regular style? Give reasons.
Ans. Eco’s non-fictional writing is not depersonalized and boring like his scholarly works. There is a playful and personal touch in it, which is a departure from his regular style.

Q.13. What did Eco learn at the age of 22 that he pursued in his novels?
Ans. Eco learnt at the age of 22 that scholarly books should be written by telling the story of research. He learnt that there should be a narrative technique employed in scholarly writing that he later employed when he wrote novels at the age of 50.

Q.14. What makes ‘The Name of the Rose’ a serious novel?
Ans. ‘The Name of the Rose’ is a serious novel as it delves into metaphysics, theology and medieval history inspite of being a detective story at one level.

Q.15. What does Eco think of the readers of his novel ‘The Name of the Rose’?
Ans. Eco thinks that there are readers who don’t like ‘trash’ and like to have difficult reading experiences. It is contrary to what journalists and publishers think. The selling of 15 million copies of his novel ‘The Name of the Rose’- a very serious work is testimony that readers don’t want easy reading experiences.