Bureaucracy

A portrait of a ministry and its officials centers on an experienced bureau chief whose ordered life masks domestic vexations, and on a resourceful secretary-general who maneuvers through favors and compromises. The narrative exposes ministerial routines, petty intrigues, and the slow corrosive effects of institutional mechanisms likened to shipworms that consume official structures. Interleaved domestic scenes reveal personal consequences of bureaucratic ambition, while episodes show how flattery, compromise, and discreet manipulation sustain power. The work mixes character study and social satire to depict both the machinery of government and the human foibles that maintain it.