The Penguin Book of Interviews; an Anthology from 1859 to the Present Day

664 Pages·1993·36.881 MB·English

by  Christopher Silvester (editor)

THE PENGUIN BOOK OF
INTERVIEWS
AN ANTHOLOGY FROM 1859 TO THE PRESENT DAY
EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER SILVESTER
‘Why do I refuse to be interviewed? Because it is immoral!
It is a crime, just as much a crime as an offence against my
person, as an assault, and just as much merits punishment.
It is cowardly and vile. No respectable man would ask it,
much less give it’ - Rudyard Kipling
From verbal combat to unreserved adoration, the art of
the interview has always aroused strong feelings. Aggrieved
film stars, disdainful monarchs, cantankerous novelists and
selfjustifying politicians have ali hurled abuse and invective
at interviewers. Interviewers for their part have loftily
maintained that their role is the pursuit of truth and the
preservation of contemporary history.
This anthology ranges from what is considered to be the
first interview — with Brigham Young, the leader of the
Mormon Church — which appeared in 1859 in the New York
Tribune, through to the present day. Journalistic craftsman-
ship, historical significance and sometimes just sheer
entertainment value have been the primary criteria for
selection. The result is a fascinating volume which offers
the reader not only an insight into the lives of the famous,
but a perspective on the changing nature of being famous
and what we, the public, expect to know about the great
figures of our time.
Among those interviewed are: Karl Marx, Otto von
Bismarck, Woodrow Wilson, Adolf Hitler, Gertrude Stein,
Mahatma Gandhi, Alfred Hitchcock, Mao Tse-Tung and
William Burroughs. Interviewers include R. H. Sherard,
Beverley Nichols, Djuna Barnes, Emil Ludwig and Tom
Driberg. Some pairings of interviewer and inter-
viewee have special interest: Mark Twain interviewed by
Rudyard Kipling, Josef Stalin interviewed by H. G. Wells
and also Oscar Wilde interviewed by Oscar Wilde.
Within these pages can be found the last interviews that
Marilyn Monroe, Joe Orton and Jimmy Hoffa gave. William
Howard Russell tells us about his experiences of reporting
the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny; Cecil Rhodes
(continued on back flap)
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2023 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
_ https://archive.org/details/penguinbookofintOOOOunse_w/o1
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THE PENGUIN BOOK OF
INTERVIEWS
AN ANTHOLOGY FROM 1859
TO THE PRESENT DAY
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EDITED WITH AN-INTRODUCTION BY
CHRISTOPHER SILVESTER
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VIKING
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Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England
Penguin Books USA Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England
First published 1993
3579 108 64
First edition
This selection copyright © Christopher Silvester, 1993
Pages xiv—xvi constitute an extension of this copyright page
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright
reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior
written permission of both the copyright owner
and the above publisher of this book
Typeset by Datix International Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Filmset in 10/12 pt Monophoto Garamond
Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives ple
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-670-83965-5
To my History teachers —
Peter Read, Robin Reeve, Ted Maidment and Maurice Cowling