Written Interviews

[davemarc]

Michael Shumacher's book Creative Conversations: The Writer's Complete Guide
to Conducting Interviews (Writer's Digest, 1990) devotes some space to the
written interview: "Some interviewees want more time to consider your
questions and prepare their responses than an in-person or telephone
interview will allow. These interviewees suggest that you submit a list of
questions that they'll consider, answer, and return at their own leisure."

Hajdu's exchange with Pynchon qualifies as this type of interview. In terms
of its depth, it isn't in the same category as a classic Paris Review
interview, but in terms of the method, it is in the same category. Here's a
passage from Schumacher's book:

<<George Plimpton, who has conducted and published a number of written
interviews with authors in his Paris Review Interviews series, is satisfied
with using this format in his publication.

"Some people don't feel that they're very good talking to machines or being
interviewed by reporters," he explains. "It's interesting: very often, what
you say seems very fraught with meaning and intelligence, but it isn't that
way on the printed page. The idea (for Paris Review interviews) is to get
these people to talk about their writing, and it doesn't make much
difference to us whether the interview is typed out or spoken.">>(p. 148)

d.