“A distasteful milieu”: Brian O’Nolan and the civil service 1935-51.

Abstract

This article examines what Brian O'Nolan described as the ‘distasteful milieu’ of the civil service, contextualizing O’Nolan’s career as a civil servant that paralleled his career as a writer.  The civil service and officialdom are a growing presence in his writings, especially in Cruiskeen Lawn where Myles na gCopaleen speaks on behalf of the increasingly bitter civil servant, Brian O’Nolan.