Scoop (1938)

Definitely a classic, and of the enjoyable type too. With hints towards Kafka or the Goon Show, Evelyn Waugh tracks our surprised hero into a war zone. A kind of 1930s Idiot Abroad. There's a raft of quirky characters, many surprises and loads of laughs. Less of an insight into Fleet Street, than a romp of English humour. ( )

On March 8, 1946, I said to myself: "Started reading Scoop. It certainly is good. Such humor!" On March 9 I said: "Finished Scoop. It'ss the funniest book I've read in months. Such a subtle, delightful humour." [The spelling of the word humor is exactly how I wrote it on the respective days mentioned.] ( )

Second time reading.

File this under guilty pleasures. I'm, well outraged isn't the right word, made weary by the dreariness of the other reviews of this book: plot summaries, gestures towards its transhistorical narratives (or towards its capturing that peculiar moment before the Nazis invaded Poland), and hamfisted comparisons to P. G. Wodehouse (different sort of writer entirely, although, hilariously, Wodehouse does get a shoutout as the plot winds down). And then, well, there's the fact that the book is terribly racist. It's not racist in a Mein Kampf or Turner Diaries kind of way; there's no particular program Waugh wants to push; but the novel nevertheless goes hand-in-thoughtless-hand with the postwar atrocities committed by Britain in Kenya. Is this attitude inevitable? Simply a record of its time?

Of course not. Don't be foolish.

That said, it's delightful. I'm of course reminded of A. J. Liebling's war journalism. The plot should be a model for plots everywhere. The odd mixture of affection and contempt is characteristic of the best humor writing (see, for example, Diary of a Nobody or Cold Comfort Farm). I'm going a bit too far here: it's clear that Waugh finds the expropriation of Africa's natural resources by European colonial powers distasteful. And that's something.

I'd suggest, however, starting with The Loved One. ( )

Very amusing satire of newspaper life & Colonial African politics. Probably not very politically correct in today's terms but I could easily visualize the attitudes and apathy of the natives of Ishmaelia, as well as the gullibility of the Europeans & cynicism of the newsmen. ( )

It is an old Penguin book, the orange and white one, a reprint from 1951. This book, these musty papers are 8 years older than i am!
It was a 50c find, among boxes of old books for sale at the school fair last month. Maybe it was even just a quarter. Cheap as anyway. And still in good enough condition for reading; the pages arent falling out, there’s no water damage etc. And it has that marvelous musty old book smell. Aaah.
And what a surprise of a treat to read. Having read only Brideshead Revisited many years ago, when i was too young to really appreciate it, but old enough to like it anyway, it felt like my introduction to the satire of Evelyn Waugh. It does make me wonder, where are these types of writers today?
The book has lively eccentric characters, you can see the old movie in your brain. Yet i am surprised that i cant find if a movie has been made of it. Some sassy comedy with fast talkers, smooth suave fraudsters, Claudette Colbert, or Cary Grant.....surely something must have been done on film with this....
(read several years ago, came across the jottings today) ( )