The first four parts have already appeared to extraordinarily enthusiastic critical and popular acclaim. Voskuil is now in danger of becoming what he never intended - a highly popular author who has outgrown his cult. N ever before has the dry humour and occasional tragedy of office life been described as thoroughly as in this cycle of novels. The books mercilessly describe the frivolity, the petty irritations and teasing, the conniving and crawling, the hierarchy, the unnatural suppression of emotion, and the alienation that insidiously strengthens its hold on people over the years in which they are obliged to spend their days together in a closed room. J.J. Voskuil has produced a sublime parody of academic specialisation.
Nobody knows what purpose the research is meant to serve, but everyone does as they re asked.
In Vuile handen , set between 1965 and 1973, the period of Vietnam and student unrest, Maarten has become head of the Popular Culture Department and is gradually trying to surround himself with a circle of kindred spirits. He has grown up and now identifies with his role. From this new position he watches his student ideals being slowly whittled away. Het bureau is a profoundly comical, detailed and moving depiction of that world of bosses and wage slaves which ultimately imprisons everyone. What makes the novel so special is the way it magnifies human failing.