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Scoop: A Novel About Journalists (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

by Evelyn Waugh (Author) "While still a young man, John Courteney Boot had, as his publisher proclaimed, 'achieved an assured and enviable position in contemporary letters.' ..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Scoop: A Novel About Journalists (Penguin Modern Classics) + Decline and Fall (Penguin Modern Classics) + Vile Bodies (Penguin Modern Classics)
Price For All Three: £19.20

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (28 Aug 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141187492
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141187495
  • Product Dimensions: 18.4 x 11 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 9,247 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #6 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Waugh, Evelyn

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Product Description

Product Description

Lord Copper, newspaper magnate and proprietor of the Daily Beast, has always prided himself on his intuitive flair for spotting ace reporters. That is not to say he has not made the odd blunder, however, and may in a moment of weakness make another.Acting on a dinner-party tip from Mrs Algernon Smith, he feels convinced that he has hit on just the chap to cover a promising little war in the African Republic of Ishmaelia. One of Waugh's most exuberant comedies, Scoop is a brilliantly irreverentsatire of Fleet Street and its hectic pursuit of hot news.


About the Author

Evelyn Waugh was born in 1903 and was educated at Hertford College, Oxford. In 1928 he published his first novel, Decline and Fall, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies (1930), Black Mischief (1932), A Handful of Dust (1934) and Scoop (1938). In 1945 he published Brideshead Revisited and he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1952 for Men at Arms. Evelyn Waugh died in 1966.
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While still a young man, John Courteney Boot had, as his publisher proclaimed, 'achieved an assured and enviable position in contemporary letters.' Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
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 (8)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
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 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Is the review finished? Up to a point, 1 Jul 2005
By Ian David Curry "Legal Eagle" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Scoop: A Novel About Journalists (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
Waugh is both appreciated and reviled for much the same qualities. The same caustic wit and social observation that sliced through the ridiculous class structure of his time also brought a flippancy and 'carelessness' which in our politically correct age reads uncomfortably.

Scoop is a classic example, essentially involving a mix up in the assignment of a plum overseas journalism posting to cover the Ishmalian civil war. This is written in the age of Goebbels and Stalin, and so it is no surprise to see that the power of the press is essentially responsible for destabilizing the otherwise unassuming African state. Where the journalists decide there is a story, a story will exist. Is it really that different today?

Waugh uses his social observation skills to almost ludicrous extremes, with portraits of Lord Copper, Boot of the Beast and the other journalists in the pack being both ghastly and stunningly incompetent. The novel retains its comic touch, although has dated slightly more than some of Waugh's other works. Essentially many of the caustic barbs would be more suited to an age familiar with the excesses of Beaverbrook and Rothermere.

This is essentially classic Waugh, and thus should be approached with a little prior knowledge of his style. If you like him, you'll love this - I devoured it in a day.

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic that has lost none of its relevance, 9 May 2004
By A Customer
Scoop is a classic that has long none of its relevance since Waugh satirised the haphazard process of news gathering and reporting.

With the rise of "television news", the crazy mix between internal agendas and accident has perhaps become more wayward. If readers and listeners only knew the half of it ...

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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Waugh reviled & persecuted - try reading between the lines!, 12 Nov 2003
By Andy Millward (Broxbourne, Herts, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
To Chad, Andy Barnes and others who found Scoop offensive, consider the alternative viewpoint:

I first read this book at Wilmslow Grammar School in the mid-1970s, when it was clearly not considered racist or any unsuitable for school children. Furthermore, we were taught that Waugh himself is embodied in the naive everyman character, William Boot, who sees everything but avoids the pitfalls of premature judgement. Waugh's whimsical but savage narration, on the other hand, lampoons everything in sight, notably the enterprising but weary African response to expense account journalism.

Ishmaelians are stereotyped and lightly ridiculed not because Waugh was personally racist, but because he is attacking the mores and prejudices of his readership, albeit it such a light-hearted fashion that the vast majority would barely realise they were being sent up.

As such, Scoop is a perfect document of its time, but I doubt that much has really changed. For all our political correctness nowadays, it seems to me that most people are more suspicious of and offensive towards foreigners now than ever. Waugh was right - plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Has not aged well
Scoop is a novel about journalists and the media, and the lengths they will go to for a good story. While there are obvious parallels with the media of the 21st century I am... Read more
Published 29 days ago by Dublinia

1.0 out of 5 stars Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
For the Attention of: Andy Millward (Broxbourne, Herts, UK:

RE: Your Review entitled:
"Waugh reviled & persecuted - try reading between the lines! Read more
Published 6 months ago by Factotum

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read but a bit dated
I'm not really a novel man myself, but I like to read a good one ever so often.

I heard this book dramatized on the radio and thought that it sounded interesting... Read more
Published 7 months ago by J. Victor

4.0 out of 5 stars What goes around, comes around
This is the first Evelyn Waugh novel I have read and found it very humorous in places. Whilst this was clearly set in the 1930's the parallels with modern news gathering struck a... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Simon Whaley

4.0 out of 5 stars Laugh a minuite!
Scoop made me laugh out loud so many times! I love it when a book wholly engages you and you get drawn physically into the readng process (ie laughing, crying)and Waugh made me do... Read more
Published 17 months ago by C. PYE

5.0 out of 5 stars SCOOP: A Satirical Novel, Not A Racist Rant
This is an incredibly funny novel, and a must read for anybody interested in the politics of the world during the 30's, or the farcical nature of the press. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2004 by dust-and-roses

1.0 out of 5 stars Inconsequential and Offensive
Scoop has no place in modern day literature, not just because it is dated, it is also generalised, ignorant, racially intolerant, badly structured, exclusive and isoteric. Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2003 by Mr. C. A. Shepherd

4.0 out of 5 stars Dated but still humorous
Scoop is a novel about the crazy world of journalism. The basic of the story is that of mistaken identity; a newspaper magnate orders for the promising John Boot to be sent to... Read more
Published on 21 Jul 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Dated but still humorous
Scoop is a novel about the crazy world of journalism. The basic of the story is that of mistaken identity; a newspaper magnate orders for the promising John Boot to be sent to... Read more
Published on 21 Jul 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Dated but still humorous
Scoop is a novel about the crazy world of journalism. The basic of the story is that of mistaken identity; a newspaper magnate orders for the promising John Boot to be sent to... Read more
Published on 21 Jul 2003

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