Guest Editors' Note

This note from the guest editors of the special issue on Brian O'Nolan and the Irish Civil Service introduces the topic to be explored in the journal edition, whilst it also sets out some key points on why the theme of bureaucracy should be more closely considered in O'Nolan criticism. At the same time, the editorial sketches out some aspects of the current political and cultural context in which we approach the bureaucrat as a topic of discussion. Calling into attention certain important critical interventions on the question of how writers operate when they are at the same time state functionaries, this editorial sets the stage for O'Nolan to be re-considered as a 'writer-official'. Introducing the contributing essays which will make up the special issue, the editorial points towards how the contributors taken on such a task of critical re-orientation.