Alexander Starritt

Alexander Starritt (born 1985) is a Scottish-German novelist, journalist and entrepreneur.[1] Starritt was educated at Somerville College, Oxford.[2] He came to public attention in 2017 with the release of his novel The Beast.[3] He was also one of the founding team on the policy platform Apolitical,[4] which in 2018 was listed by US business magazine Fast Company as one of the World's Most Innovative Companies.[5] Starritt has published several translations from German, including works by Stefan Zweig and Arthur Schnitzler.[2]

The Beast

The Beast is a satire of British tabloid journalism[6] and has been described by critics[3] as a successor to Evelyn Waugh's novel Scoop. It tells the story of a downtrodden sub-editor, Jeremy Underwood, who notices two figures dressed in burqas outside the offices of the tabloid newspaper where he works. When he mentions this to his colleagues, their paranoia and hunger for a story take over. The Beast's journalists come to believe they are the target of an imminent terrorist attack and events quickly escalate out of control.

The novel deals with themes such as the rapaciousness of the tabloids, the decline of print journalism and Islamophobia in the British media. Several critics have pointed out that as well as satire, the novel contains a great deal of affection for the world it describes. For example, the Scottish journalist Hugh Macdonald, reviewing the novel in The National, wrote, "This may not be a love letter to the ailing print media but it will serve as an elegy."[7]

Bibliography

Books
  • Starritt, Alexander (2017). The Beast. London: Head of Zeus. ISBN 1784979953.

Translations
  • Starritt, Alexander (2017). Late Fame by Arthur Schnitzler. London: NYRB Books. ISBN 1681370840.
  • Starritt, Alexander (2013). A Chess Story by Stefan Zweig. London: Pushkin Press. ISBN 1784979953.

TEDx lectures

References
  1. "Alexander Starritt | United Agents". www.unitedagents.co.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  2. "Somerville alumnus to release debut novel — Somerville College Oxford". www.some.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  3. Jack, Ian (29 July 2017). "Waugh's Beast is back, still satirising those who make England so febrile | Ian Jack". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  4. "Our Team | Apolitical". Apolitical. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  5. "Apolitical: Most Innovative Company | Fast Company". Fast Company. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  6. Times, The Sunday. "The best new paperbacks: The Beast; I'd Die for You and Other Lost Stories; The Animals Among Us; The Ascent of Gravity; Wonderland; This Is Going to Hurt; Gone". Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  7. "Book review: The Beast by Alexander Starritt". The National. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
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