Yeah, the “Scoop the comic novel by Evelyn Waugh” Scoop. Somebody online was insisting that you can’t be a journalist without reading that book at least once, and while I have no real interest in being a journalist I was struck by the guy’s insistence. Plus, I’ve never actually read any Waugh*, so why not?
I’ll let you know how it goes. It’s supposed to be funny, so there’s that.
*Yes, I majored in English Literature. But I mostly did Shakespeare and some of the medieval/Renaissance stuff and a good bit of the 19th Century authors. Modern non-genre fiction is usually incredibly boring to me.
so it’s for THIS post that I finally register so I can leave a reply.
I’ve read Scoop, also because I was told Waugh is “funny.” Turns out he’s more sardonic. I like Scoop and all, but as far as humor is concerned, the most I got out of it was a knowing smile.
You want “funny” from a 20th century English author? Then you should be reading P.G. Wodehouse. Now *that’s* funny. The kind of funny where you laugh out loud and then yell to your wife, “Hey honey! Listen to this!”
Anyhoo, love your site, Moe. Keep on rockin’, as the journalistic saying goes.
I’ve got Wodehouse on the list of get-to-at-some-point.
Oh, and also Scoop is where The Daily Beast got its name.
You should check out the old Howard the Duck comics from the ’70s, there’s quite a bit of Waugh in those too.
I’m not sure a novel written in 1938 counts as modern these days – back in 1938 they still cared about things like plot, characterization and such, and didn’t really care whether or not the protagonist checked off enough boxes in xer’s lack of privilege.