People in Glass Houses

by Shirley Hazzard

Only those who keep their wit and affections about them will survive the mass conditioning of the Organization, where confusion solemnly rules and conformity is king. As in our world itself, humanity prevails in the courage, love, and laughter of singular spirits--of men and women for whom life is an adventure no Organization can quell, and whose souls remain their own.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, 20th Century, Australia, Satire, Literary Fiction, Ebooks

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Shirley Hazzard was born in Australia, and as a child travelled the world due to her parents’ diplomatic postings. At age 16, she began working for British Combined Intelligence Services in Hong Kong, monitoring civil war in China. After her family moved to New York City, she worked for several years as a typist at the United Nations Secretariat in New York.

After leaving this post, she became a full-time writer and a passionate opponent of the United Nations, the subject of several of her nonfiction books.

Known for elegant and controlled writing, Hazzard’s works of fiction include five novels. Her last novel, The Great Fire, was shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Reviews

[zed]

A book consisting of 8 vaguely interrelated short stories with a very seamless writing style that is easy to read.

Though a satire on the UN and specific to that organisation, in my opinion this read can be related to anyone that has had a long working life in either the private sector or the public. The petty bureaucrats, empire builders, those that moan about how hard they work but do little, gossipers, all are covered in a delightful and gentle read that I think would appeal to most. I recognised so many people from my 40 years working life. My first Shirley Hazard and I will be reading more. Terrific writing.

[Teresa]

I liked this collection of interrelated short-stories. My understanding is that each was first published in The New Yorker. And while the soul-crushing, labyrinthine absurdities of the bureaucracies of the huge international Organization (read the U.N.) are not earth-shattering now, I wouldn't be surprised if these stories ruffled more than a few feathers when they were first published.

The narratorial voice can be sly, even snide, and there are more than a few knowing chuckles for the reader. One story is very much a precursor to The Bay of Noon, which I found interesting to see as a part of Hazzard's development as a novelist. In some ways this collection can be seen as a novel: it's certainly the most connected set of stories I've come across in a long time.

Now that I've read all of Hazzard's fiction, I'll need to reread her great novels one day. She deserves that.

[Noah Goats]

A dry but biting satire of the soul crushing nature of working for any large bureaucracy in general, or specifically for the UN. The book begins with one of the heads of the HR department writing a memo about how the Organization is looking to promote people who (in today's terms) think outside the box, and then we watch as the memo writer crushes an employee because he's an oddball. Although People in Glass Houses calls itself a novel, it's really more of a collection of short stories set in the same place (a UN-like organization) and with common themes, such as how bureaucracies cut their employees down to fit certain molds, or how organizational groupthink reduces effectiveness at dealing with real problems.

One of the characters outlines what seemed to me to be the theme of the novel: "Nothing in excess . . . But one has to understand the meaning of excess. Why should it be taken, as it seems to be these days, to refer simply to self-indulgence, or violence - or enjoyment? Wasn't it intended, don't you think, to refer to all excesses - excesses of pettiness, of timorousness, of officiousness, of sententiousness, of censoriousness? Excess of stinginess or rancor? Excess of bores?" People in Glass Houses is Shirley Hazzard's crie de coeur against these kinds of excess that are so common in any large organization.

Shirley Hazzard was an employee of the UN, so she knew what she was talking about. And even though this book is over fifty years old, it still seems extremely relevant.

[Steve]

I agree with the book blurb that said this is worthy of Waugh. It's wonderful satire on bureaucratic minds working in a relentlessly bureaucratic agency. It's funny and also dismaying that there are people, lots of them, who can actually talk and think in such numbing bureaucratic language that uses words, lots of them, to convey absolutely nothing and not be aware of it. It's a form of insanity. In this novel it can be funny, exasperating, etc, but, in darker contexts, also alarming and frightening, making cruelty possible by cloaking ambition, office politics, the desire to protect one's position, and a lot of other motives, in layers of abstraction. We've all seen examples of this in our own lives. Too many of them for comfort. This is my first book by Shirley Hazzard. I like her a lot.

[George]

3.5 stars. A satirical short story collection about a bureaucratic organization, an international enterprise dedicated to the cause of humanity. The author satirizes the world of the United Nations, where she worked from 1952 to 1962.

The stories are interrelated, describing the lives of some individuals of this ingrown community. Issues take on an impersonal nature. Checklists are ‘painstakingly devised to avoid anything resembling a personal opinion’.

An entertaining, enjoyable, short book.

This book was first published in 1967.

[Jim]

In an interview in The Paris Review Hazzard talks about what prompted her to write this book:

When, having become a writer, I resigned from the United Nations Secretariat in 1960, it never occurred to me that I would write directly about that experience—my years in a bureaucracy that, given its pretensions, funds, and opportunities, was the most disillusioning and stultifying experience imaginable. People in Glass Houses gradually developed in my mind, as time passed and I realized more acutely the waste of years spent there. The waste of people and possibilities.

In the book the U.N. becomes “The Organisation”. The interviewer described the books as “Orwell crossed with Waugh” and that’s not a bad description although it is heavy on the Waugh and Hazzard admits that he did cross her mind as she was working on the book. The Paris Review lists the book among her novels but since all the chapters began life as separate pieces in The New Yorker it is, strictly-speaking, a collection of short stories although if you want to beat about the bush you could describe it as that odd beast, the novel in short stories since there is some overlapping of characters.

I worked in the civil service for many years and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there so I expected to be able to relate to Hazzard’s world although I have to say I was hoping for something more Kafkaesque than what I got but it was fine; if I was reminded of anything it probably was the Circumlocution Office from Little Dorrit. I’ve thought to write about my experiences of bureaucracy but resisted the urge and, after reading this, I think I was wise to do so because I don’t think I have it in me to produce something like Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and that’s what you need to do to make office life funny. To be fair to Hazzard there’s hardly a page without something to make you smile—Hazzard clearly has an eye for detail—but she’s also gone for accuracy and what’s she’s describing accurately is boring and a little boredom can go a long way. I suspect that if I’d encountered these stories as they originally appeared, periodically, I probably would’ve enjoyed them more because reading them one after the other underlined the negative which is a shame because there’s a lot positive here and I’d draw your attention to Greg Lowe’s review for Spike Magazine much of which I agree with.

For me the best piece was ‘Swoboda's Tragedy’ which is about how hard it can be to get anywhere if your face doesn’t fit. ‘The Story of Miss Sadie Graine’ was also good and actually provides a solution as to how to get around the fact your face doesn’t fit.

In some respects the stories are dated but only a little; people—certainly office people—really haven’t changed that much in the last hundred years.

[Sebastian]

No one writes better about the mechanical routine and soul-crushing tedium of working in an office than Shirley Hazzard. She really gets it.

She was obviously deeply scarred by her time working in admin at the UN - fair enough. Fortunately, her trauma resulted in some devastating and darkly funny portraits of bureaucratic horror. I especially liked Swoboda’s Tragedy and The Story of Miss Sadie Graine.

I also read that Hazzard ruined a lot of dinner parties by ranting non-stop about her love/hate relationship with the UN. I can picture that, and she probably could’ve dropped one or two of the weaker stories from this collection.

[Kimberly Sullivan]

I enjoyed this brilliant send-up on the United Nations in a series of connected short stories.
Hazzard, who worked in the UN in its early years – in the 1950s – and later became a vociferous critic, creates a brilliant satire of what she calls ‘The Organization’, replete with official-sounding UN acronyms such as "‘DALTO – the Department of Aid to the Less Technically Oriented’, working to induce backwards nations to come forwards.”

This biting satire is subtle, depicting enthusiastic, idealistic young people entering a system they believe can truly make a difference, only to be slowly grounded down by mind-boggling bureaucracy and incompetent management. Speaking about the career rise of one character, it’s noted with pride that “he worked at Interim Reports, before being upgrade to Annual Reports.” One of the characters in the story is described as such: “Svoboda was not a brilliant man. He was a man of what used to be knows as average and is now known as above-average intelligence.”

Here’s a telling passage about bureaucratic management within ‘The Organization’:
“Although exalted in Organizational rank, they were not remarkable men. First-class minds, being interested in the truth, tend to select other first-class minds as companions. Second-class minds, on the other hand, being interested in themselves, will select third-class comrades in order to maintain the illusion of superiority.”

But it isn’t only political-appointee management Hazzard pokes fun at. One of her best pieces in the collection is about a bitter, insecure and increasingly unstable secretary, Sadie Graine, who viciously wields her power over those around her. She takes twisted pride in controlling access to her boss and thwarting the careers of those who don’t provide her with the respect she believes she deserves. It’s a brilliant story with a satisfying end. I was pleased to read an interview with Hazzard in which she recalls this little gem as probably her most perfect short story.

I really enjoyed these short stories and greatly appreciate Hazzard’s fine eye for satire.

[Seingalt]

I read this brief collection of stories this afternoon, first with immense delight and then with slight disappointment. The opening story, "Nothing in Excess," captivated me immediately with its on-target skewering of the pompous language of the Organization that the characters in these stories work for. Other stories I liked quite a lot, too, in particular "The Meeting" and "Swoboda's Tragedy." Throughout the collection, there were lines that made me laugh out loud every few pages. The story "A Sense of Mission," for instance, about an Organization staffer sent on mission to assist with what one presumes is a humanitarian emergency, opens thus:

"Carry your bags, Miss?"

It was the first remark addressed to her by those she had come to serve.

But at some point the stories started striking me as needlessly cruel, or even as caricature. I'm not sure how otherwise to explain my slight disappointment.

I work for the Organization that is the target of Hazzard's barbs in these stories, and the most surprising thing to me about the collection is how evidently little the Organizational language that Hazzard mocks to tremendous effect here--for me, it's far and away the most gratifying aspect of this collection--has changed since the 1950s, when she herself was an Organization employee.

[Linda]

Structured as a series of short stories that all take place within "The Organization", this satire of bureaucracy is both hilarious and poignant. Hazzard takes an ironic look at some of the employees of this global, probably nonprofit, enterprise as they struggle each in their own way to push back a little at the impossible and absurd restrictions place upon them.

[Vince]

Nothing much happens in this slim collection of short stories. But that's the point: Hazzard expertly sends up the absurdity of everyday work life in large, hulking bureaucracies like the United Nations. She does it with an extreme precision and economy of language. As a recent World Bank consultant, I can tell you her satire still resonates decades after this was published.

[Jeff]

Shirley Hazard was a fine writer. Before writing full time Shirley Hazard worked at the United Nations. Shirley Hazard did not like what she saw and experienced at the UN.

Shirley Hazard wrote this collection of stories about the employees of “The Organization.”

Clearly modeled after the UN it is staffed with self important, rule following down to the minutia, individuals who accomplish little.

Reading it one could clearly see it was modeled after the UN but having experienced the corporate world myself I would say there is a degree of what she writes in any such structure.

The stories are mildly interesting but certainly has a limited audience.

Some of the acid bath quotes in the stories include “ that there was no room for personalities, and that its hope for survival lay, like that of all organizations, in the subordination of individual gifts to general procedures. No new country, no new language or way of life, no marriage or involvement in war could have so effectively altered and unified the way in which these people presented themselves to the world.”

Or this on how people associate : “First class minds, being interested in the truth, tend to select other first-class minds as companions. Second-class minds, on the other hand, being interested in themselves, will select third.”

Or this “ After a while he developed a posture that had always been latent with him—an excessively upright posture verging on a strut. He walked as if he were bending over backward. “

Or the UN (The Organization’s) rules on helping countries “About the development process, there appeared to be no half measures: once a country had confessed to backwardness, it could hope for no quarter in the matter of improvement. It could not accept a box of pills without accepting, in principle, an atomic reactor. Progress was a draught that must be drained to the last bitter drop.”

Or an attitude requiring nuance “Pylos was intent on staying on top of things, not getting to the bottom of them. If there was one thing Pylos didn’t go for it was being asked to consider complexities at any length and for their own sake. He could turn quite nasty if pressed to do so.”

Or “He found himself obliged to participate in what were called far-reaching decisions concerning countries of whose language he was ignorant, whose customs he had never studied, whose religion was a puzzle to him, whose politics a labyrinth, whose history a mystery. For this purpose he was provided”

This last one, does that not describe practically every appointed official in any government, brought in as a figurehead or bagging the appointment as a trophy for service provided.

The stories do paint a picture of officialdom that many of us will recognize and others have long assumed

[John Naylor]

This is a strange book to read in 2018.

It is a satire on the U.N. written in 1966. Yet, some of it could have come from the latest edition of Private Eye. Some of it is dated and the terms would be hard to justify for a modern author but the system that the U.N. (and the E.U.) uses seems to remain the same.

There are a few paragraphs that drag as a reader but the ideas never do. The eight stories are mostly only loosely connected and each one is a fresh take on something different.

I rated this as 3 stars as it is not a classic read just an enjoyable older one. It is well worth a read for fans of satire, those who are involved in politics and those who just find random reading choices like myself.

[Cheryl Walsh]

This is a collection of linked short stories rather than a novel. There is no overarching narrative that links them. Rather, they are linked by "the Organization" for which all the characters work, a highly bureaucratic international consortium of countries, a fictionalized United Nations. It's witty and satirical, an indictment of bureaucracy and mid-century conformity that questions the aims and methods of "progress" in the Western world, which undermine the lofty goals of international cooperation. While the critique is still relevant, the book feels a bit dated. I did enjoy reading it, though.

[Vanessa]

4.5 stars - A brilliant, satirical collection of stories about office culture within a bureacratic organisation. It took me back to my days of working in an government agency - in saying that, the experience of reading this was equal parts depressing and hilarious.

I think it’s also a poignant reminder to reflect on our relationship with work and workplaces in a late-stage capitalist society.

[Susan Schefflein]

Shirley Hazzard has obviously worked for an "Organization". She describes the bureaucratic mind perfectly. I laughed out loud at some of the characters - the interaction between Miss Kingslake and Grilli, Chapter 7. A Sense of Mission, is not to be missed.

[Kathryn Castles]

Very little happens in this, but I so enjoyed it. Feels like the world of Severance, although it's 50 years older. Very contemporary in tone. The character who most stuck with me was the young man who showed fun and promise - but the promise shrank as the fun increased.

[Alice Grundy]

In a time when large organisations are as simultaneously domineering and bumbling as ever they were, this book is a witty take on working within systems beyond your control.

[Brenda Rosser]

wonderful, satire no less

[Jake Bittle]

The portraits of office life are hilarious, but the critique of official conformity is a little too simple.

[Sohum]

three point five

[VinitaF]

A very interesting book. A dystopian framework embellished with utopian elements. Funny and sarcastic and overall a demolishing look at the farce of societal structure

[Matt Carton]

A collection of short stories about the workplace. Albeit, the workplace is the UN. Good, not memorable.

[Mairead]

Claustrophobic!

[Jane Darby]

She makes me believe in sentences. I love her.

[Michael Stanley]

Brilliant. Laugh out loud. For anyone who respects and enjoys the absurdity of bureaucracy.

[Carol Masciola]

Hazard draws on her experience as a low-level WHO staffer in the 1960s to lampoon UN bureaucracy in this lightly connected group of short stories.

She has a keen eye for the preposterous.

[Brendan]

I’d begun to assume that Shirley Hazzard’s stories were all about miserable couples on vacation in Italy, but this collection of linked stories is an unexpectedly funny workplace satire — the workplace being the United Nations (thinly fictionalized as “the Organization”).

[Doug]

This book take place in a huge and nameless international organization, surely the UN. Appropriately titled, no matter how big of an organization you work in, everybody knows most everything about you. A rather timeless novel that remains relevant today.

[Mark Taylor]

Extremely well-written collection of short stories. Profiles in bureaucracy.