The Bureaucracy 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.

巴尔扎克的《公务员》深刻揭示出一个庞大、臃肿、"为庸人所创造，取悦于庸人"的官僚体制。这种地方，一部分人才高位卑，一部分人尸位素餐，不知浪费和摧残了多少才华。它以官僚体制这个长期折磨着人类文明社会的怪物作为剖析的对象；单凭这一主题，就已显示出作者作为现实主义大师独到的眼力。故事情节很简单，一个政府部门因司长病逝而位子出缺，围绕着两位处长谁来补缺的问题展开了一场勾心斗角的争夺。通过这场角逐，把法国查理十世复辟王朝时期官僚政治的种种弊端揭露得痛快淋漓。它既是一幅十九世纪巴黎社会的风俗画，也是一部辛辣无情的官场现形记。