"The Bureaucrats (Les Employes) stands out in Balzac's immense Human Comedy by concentrating precisely and penetratingly on a distinctive ""modern"" institution: France's state bureaucracy. Rabourdin, aided by his unscrupulous wife, attempts to reorganize and streamline the entire system. Rabourdin's plan will halve the government's size while doubling its revenue. When the plan is leaked, Rabourdin's rival--an utter incompetent--gains the overwhelming support of the frightened and desperate body of low-ranking functionaries. The novel contains the recognizable themes of Balzac's work: obsessive ambition, conspiracy and human pettiness, and a melodramatic struggle between the social good and the evils of folly and stupidity. It is also an unusual, dramatized analysis of a developing political institution and its role in shaping social class and mentality."
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Text: English
Original Language: French
Original Language: French
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dirty Politics,
By James Paris "Tarnmoor" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Bureaucrats (European Classics) (Hardcover)
Honore de Balzac spent a good part of his life eluding his creditors. His house on the Rue Raynouard in Paris (which I visited in 1997) was designed to help screen out creditors and, when that failed, to allow the author to slip out the back entrance on Rue Bertin and make his getaway. One result of Balzac's perennial impecuniousness is the controlling role of money in his books. Even in this novel, ostensibly a study of politics within a French ministry during the reign of Charles X, the strings are pulled by two fascinatingly grim money-lenders named Gobseck and Gigonnet. The obvious choice for the ministry, a brilliant and dedicated politico named Rabourdin, is painted into a corner and sees his career destroyed by a legion of lesser men who conspire against him. Perhaps the most telling criticism that could be made of this otherwise excellent novel is that that Balzac spends the first 75% of THE BUREAUCRATS introducing approximately a hundred characters, their wives and relations. While it is difficult at times to keep track without a scorecard, Balzac's main theme of overextended goodness destroyed by well-connected, mealy-mouthed nothings runs like a river in flood through the pages of THE BUREAUCRATS. The book is worth reading if only for the magnificent irony of the ending, which I will not tell for fear of ruining the surprise. Hang in there for the finish, and don't get sidetracked by all the characters.
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Madame Rabourdin, Monsieur Rabourdin, Monsieur Baudoyer, Monsieur de la Billardière, Madame Colleville, Madame Saillard, Madame Baudoyer, Master of Petitions, Monsieur Bixiou, Grand Almonry, Abbé Gaudron, Monsieur Dutocq, Monsieur Saillard, Monsieur Godard, Monsieur Poiret, Uncle Mitral, Monsieur Gaudron, Xavier Rabourdin, Monsieur Clergeot, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, Monsieur Leprince, Madame la Comtesse, Monsieur Phellion, Place Royale, Monsieur Colleville Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Café Thémis, copy clerk Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Madame Rabourdin, Monsieur Rabourdin, Monsieur Baudoyer, Monsieur de la Billardière, Madame Colleville, Madame Saillard, Madame Baudoyer, Master of Petitions, Monsieur Bixiou, Grand Almonry, Abbé Gaudron, Monsieur Dutocq, Monsieur Saillard, Monsieur Godard, Monsieur Poiret, Uncle Mitral, Monsieur Gaudron, Xavier Rabourdin, Monsieur Clergeot, Monsieur de Chateaubriand, Monsieur Leprince, Madame la Comtesse, Monsieur Phellion, Place Royale, Monsieur Colleville Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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