Scoop

novel by Waugh

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Scoop, novel by Evelyn Waugh, published in 1938. This savage satire of London journalism, sometimes published with the subtitle A Novel About Journalists, is based on Waugh’s experiences as a reporter for the Daily Mail during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the mid-1930s.

The book tells of the circulation battles of two rival newspapers, The Beast and The Brute, during a war in the fictional African country of Ishmaelia. William Boot, a timid nature writer, is mistakenly dispatched to Ishmaelia as a foreign correspondent for The Beast. With comic innocence and nonchalance, he survives the ruthless absurdities of competitive journalism.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.