Zakharov Nicolay, Year 3, Group 2 The analysis of the extract “Interviewing Ingmar Bergman” by Ch. Samuels The extract under analysis is taken from the book «Encountering Directors » written by Ch. Samuels. Ingmar Bergman is a famous Swedish film director, writer and theatre producer was born in 1918. His psychological films are well known around the whole world. Bergman himself wrote the scripts for most of his films and won a lot of awards. In the focus of his attention people`s fates are put, he paid attention to the fate of individuals, on their problems and their search for life`s meaning. Many of his characters are isolated people who suffer from the difficult realities of the cruel world in which they live. In this particular extract we can also see the fate of one particular person, I. Bergman, we can know about his problems and personal opinion about some points. The extract is entitled «Interviewing Ingmar Bergman». The title is not misleading because it comes up to the readers` expectations. The title is connected with the interview; the readers can expect what the interview will be about. It gives particular information about Ingmar Bergman; he will be interviewed. We will know some information about his life, job, personal point of view and so on. The title is not vivid; it is informative in terms of relevance to the contents. Also, it should be noticed that the title is quite banal because it contains only descriptive information about the interview. As for the genre, the extract is written in the form of a dialogue of two persons, it is an interview. As the extract presented in the form of a dialogue we can say that through the dialogue the characters are better portrayed. It brings the action closer to the reader, makes it seem more swift and more intense. It helps the readers to feel all the situation in a realistic way, feel every tiny detail, we start feeling the main characters` experience. The interview contains characteristics of informational and analytical genres. It can be produced in two speech forms: written and oral. Originally, the interview is produced orally and this particular interview is not an exception. We can observe the conversation between the interviewer, the author himself, and the interviewee, I. Bergman. They talk about Bergman`s works and try to understand each other because they have their own opinions. One of the peculiarities of the interview is its double targeting or orientation. Firstly, the interviewer talks to his direct addressee, asks him some questions, it is necessary for an interviewer to be well prepared for the interview; he should know some information about an interviewee and events which will be discussed. It is necessary especially because of the fact that we deal with a portrait interview which aims at getting information about an interviewee. In this extract we can see that the interviewer is well prepared and knows a lot about Ingmar Berman`s life and works. Secondly, the interview forms special publisistic play-writing regard to the potential reader. Ch. Samuel interviewed Bergman orally and then he published it in his book «Encountering Directors». In this case we can say that he could polish or brush up the text of the interview eliminating unnecessary repetitions, feeler words and junk words. The speech acquires a clearly defined composition and verbal realization is close to the codified literary language. It is a consequence of the fact that author resorts to quite a lot of bookish words such as «to cite a single reason for your pre-eminence», «creation», «I had very few contacts with reality or channels to it», «the genesis of a writer», «an enormous need», «resentment», «resignation». On the other hand, there are a number of colloquial words and phrases in the text, such as «my cup of tea», «I always feel something has been left out», «in a way», «for heaven`s sake». These colloquial words and phrases make the situation more natural and realistic. What is more, we can observe some terminology in the text, for example, «projecting device», «I ran the theatre», «shooting», «insecure with the crew, the cameras, the sound equipment» and so on. As the main idea of the interview is to get new information and facts through the talk and to translate them by means of mass media to the general public, it is understandable that the author uses some terms in his interview, because he wants us to learn some terminology of the certain professional sphere, in our case it is a cinematograph. The extract can be divided into ten parts according to the themes of the questions asked by the interviewer. In the very beginning they discuss the reasons for Bergman`s becoming a writer instead of a film director. Then Bergman talks about the fact that writing is not his cup of tea and he wants to be a film director. Then Bergman says that people should not understand a film, they just need to feel it. After this they discuss Bergman`s reaction to criticism. Mr. Bergman explains to the interviewer how actors can change a film for better or worse and that he uses music in his films less and less. Then Bergman says he prefers to shoot in black and white and force people to imagine the colours. The interviewer wonders why Mr. Bergman uses so much dialogue in his films. One more theme touches the question about difficulties for Bergman to go from directing in the theatre to directing films. And the last one touches the question about the importance of understanding one`s profession. As for the syntactic peculiarities of this text, we can see lexical repetition in the sentences, such as «And I always lacked words; it has always been very difficult for me to find the word I want. I have always felt suspicious…I always feel something has been left out» or «My impulse has nothing to do with intellect or symbolism: it has only to do with dreams and longing, with hope and desire, with passion». The lexicaĐ´ repetition is used to emphasize the idea of Ingmar Bergman`s continues problems and continues stressful words. In the second example we can also notice an antonymy «nothing» and «only», it is used to show the opposite meanings of these words to another ones in the sentence. Another syntactic peculiarity is an inversion, such as «For me, words are not satisfying» or «With a book, the reader is elsewhere», it makes sentences emphatic and puts special logical stress on the things that occupy the unusual place. We can notice some parenthetical constructions in the text which make the speech of the character more realistic and we can feel that the character thinks what to say. These constructions are «as a result», «in fact» and so on. One more is an emphatic construction «What I need is to come in contact with others» which is used to achieve some emphasis. The sentences are extended by means of enumeration: «I was afraid of my father, my mother, my elder brother – everything», «…insecure with the crew, the cameras, the sound equipment – everything», «Films, plays, poems, novels all make propositions or observations, embody ideas or beliefs…». In the last two sentences we can also notice a gradation with the peak of word «everything». There are also a lot of detached constructions which can be marked in different ways, with dashes and commas: «You must realize – this is very important! – I never ask…», «Do you work in colour now – to any degree – because you…», «…for being too theatrical – particularly – the early ones». These detached constructions help us to understand some peculiar details. There are a lot of ellipsis in the text: «Exactly», «To puzzle the audience?», «Not at all» and so on. It is used to show the realism of the conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee. There are used some stylistic devices in the text, for example simile «You are, in fact, very much like a writer»; exaggeration «…I suffered from an almost complete lack of words» which is used to emphasize the level of Bergman`s suffering; anaphora «I had very few contacts…I was afraid of my father…I had was my only form…I had great difficulty with…I mixed them up so much…», it is used to emphasize the doer of the enumerated actions, Ingmar Bergman is the centre of all these facts. There are also a lot of metaphors «flesh and blood», «The picture is just a game», «film itself is music» and epithets «an enormous need», «baffled effort», «extremely talented actress», «immediately powerful». They are used to create a bright figurative speech and it should be noticed that a writer is a creative person and such style of speech is peculiar to creative people. In conclusion I can say that I didn`t find any reasons for disliking this extract, because the characters raise very important problems of cinematograph. This extract makes us to think about human`s fate, problems and search for life`s meaning. In my opinion it is a very good and knowledgeable interview.
