Interview: Noam Chomsky

In an exclusive interview for January Magazine -- with accompanying photos by Lily Prince -- Richard Klin asks Noam Chomsky all the important questions and gets a little swept away by some of the answers:

“The man who needs no introduction” is the most hackneyed showbiz catchphrase imaginable. It is oddly apropos when applied to Noam Chomsky. How is it possible to adequately summarize his work and impact? Since the 1960s he has provided an ongoing, devastating critique of power, empire and oppression. Then there is the Herculean productivity: a voluminous written output, talks and appearances all around the world -- not to mention the long shadow he has cast over the field of linguistics.

It is, not surprisingly, a full schedule and our allotted time with Chomsky was brief. Because of this, the topics covered were a sort of grab-bag, with no attempt at a discrete theme. I could have asked ten times more.

The interview was conducted at Noam Chomsky’s MIT office in Cambridge. He is startlingly devoid of pretense, with an unassuming demeanor akin to that of one’s thesis advisor.

The complete interview is here.