SCOOP

Satire on foreign correspondents in a fantastic tale of one William Boot, accidentally thrust into the limelight as foreign correspondent to cover a reputed war in some imagined African country. It was all a matter of confusion of identity — but Boot thought himself elected, and went, a victim to every suggestion, and a success only through his own stubborn inertness, once on the spot, and his abortive love affair with a stranded tart. He makes the headlines on a fluke — is a nine day wonder — and then escapes into anonymity again, leaving another possessor of the name of Boot to take his cloak of glory. Absurd picture of an African village over—run with foreign correspondents, virtually forcing an unwanted civil war upon them, and a satiric commentary on the methods of English journalism. One expects some subtlety in the barbed pen of Evelyn Waugh. This seems dully obvious, a sort of forced and brittle cleverness, with passages of real humor almost lost in the heavy-farce of much of it. Seems to us limited in sales appeal.