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The Key
In An Eochair (The Key), one of Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s most Kafkaesque novella, J., a “paper-keeper,” accidentally locks himself in his office when his key breaks in the lock. The novella—a mixture of satire, farce, black comedy, and, ultimately, tragedy—relates the efforts of J. and various other characters, including his wife, civil service colleagues, and superiors, as they try to extricate J. from his predicament. Yet all efforts to free J. must be in accordance with civil service protocols, and no such protocol exists for J.’s unique dilemma.
110 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
150 people want to read
About the author
Máirtín Ó Cadhain
28 books54 followersMáirtín Ó Cadhain (1906 – 18 October 1970) was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century.
Máirtín Ó Cadhain was born in Cois Fharraige in the Connamara Gaeltacht in 1906. He is best known for his major novel, Cré na Cille (Dublin, Sáirséal agus Dill, 1949). It has been translated into English as Graveyard Clay, and into many other languages, including Danish and Norwegian. However, it was not published in English until 2015.
His short story collections include Idir Shúgradh agus Dáiríre, 1939, and An Braon Broghach, 1948, from which Eoghan Ó Tuairisc translated stories published under the title Road to Bright City (Dublin, Poolbeg Press, 1981); An tSraith ar Lár, (1967); and An tSraith Dhá Thógáil (1970).
A national school teacher in his early life, he was interned for his activities in the IRA during World War II. He became a lecturer in Irish in Trinity College Dublin in 1956, and became Professor of Irish there in 1969.
He died in 1970.
Máirtín Ó Cadhain was born in Cois Fharraige in the Connamara Gaeltacht in 1906. He is best known for his major novel, Cré na Cille (Dublin, Sáirséal agus Dill, 1949). It has been translated into English as Graveyard Clay, and into many other languages, including Danish and Norwegian. However, it was not published in English until 2015.
His short story collections include Idir Shúgradh agus Dáiríre, 1939, and An Braon Broghach, 1948, from which Eoghan Ó Tuairisc translated stories published under the title Road to Bright City (Dublin, Poolbeg Press, 1981); An tSraith ar Lár, (1967); and An tSraith Dhá Thógáil (1970).
A national school teacher in his early life, he was interned for his activities in the IRA during World War II. He became a lecturer in Irish in Trinity College Dublin in 1956, and became Professor of Irish there in 1969.
He died in 1970.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 7, 2025
tekdüze bir bürokrasi hicviydi, yeni bir şey yok.
April 22, 2024
Mna osobne nebavilo citat tuto abrsurdno-komicku dramu :D Chapala som, ze bolo zrejme vtipne poukazat, ze vsetko sa riadi predpismi a papier je nad cloveka, ale mne nesadol styl akym kniha bola napisana. Mozno som ju citala v nespravnom case.
Vacsina citatelov na GR knihu porovnavaju s Kafkovym Zamkom, ale kedze som ho necitala a nie som ani fanusik Kafku, minulo sa to u mna zjavne ucinkom. Od polovice knihy som to preskakala a vobec som si to neuzila.
Zato doslov, ktory urobil prekladatel Radvan Markus a bol skoro tak dlhy ako kniha :D :D bol ovela zaujimavejsi, ten sa oplatilo si precitat :)
Vacsina citatelov na GR knihu porovnavaju s Kafkovym Zamkom, ale kedze som ho necitala a nie som ani fanusik Kafku, minulo sa to u mna zjavne ucinkom. Od polovice knihy som to preskakala a vobec som si to neuzila.
Zato doslov, ktory urobil prekladatel Radvan Markus a bol skoro tak dlhy ako kniha :D :D bol ovela zaujimavejsi, ten sa oplatilo si precitat :)
November 19, 2018
My son asked for a book with Irish and English on facing pages, so delighted to find this one. Ó Cadhain is so Irish yet feel the presence of other artists in this work-- Dostoevsky and many others. I haven't read The Pale King yet, but I wondered if DFW had read this. A very quick read-- long short fiction or short novella, I suppose.
Note: although I don't speak Irish, I could tell that at a certain point the Irish and English did not line up on facing pages-- still useful for anyone who wants to teach themselves and I liked getting a feel for the language.
Note: although I don't speak Irish, I could tell that at a certain point the Irish and English did not line up on facing pages-- still useful for anyone who wants to teach themselves and I liked getting a feel for the language.
April 1, 2020
basit bir memurun J.'in dosyaların önemini anlatmasıyla başlayan anahtar, odada kilitli kalmasıyla bambaşka bir girdaba sürüklüyor okurunu. devletin her kademesinin devreye girişi, göndermeler, alıntılar derken basit bir trajedi üstünden bürokrasiyi nükteli irdeleyen kafkaesk bir girdap. 1967'de yayımlanmış olmasına rağmen gücünden hiçbir şey kaybetmemiş bir roman. bir savunma mekanizması olarak işleri öteleyen ya da bazen hiç yapmayan kamu işleyişine dair bir solukta biten şahane bir novella. ıskalamayın derim.
February 7, 2022
Kağıtların dosyalara dosyaların dolaplara hapsolduğu bu küçük odaya kilitli kalan J. pek sıradan bir evrak memuruydu. Sen onu nereden tanırsın?
Yönetmeliklerle, kararnamelerle, kutsal andıçlarla dolu evrakların bir odaya sıkıştırıldığı ve bu işi -kısmen- hakkıyla yapan sıradan bir memuru belki işin düştüğünde, belkide bir üstü "kıdemli" memur S.'yi tanıyabilirsin.
S'nin tatile çıkıp J'nin bir odada kilitli kalarak unutulmasıyla başlar bu roman. Bir geceyi zor geçiren J. sesini duyurduğu temizlik görevlisi kadına varlığını ispatlasa bile onu bekleyecek olan koca bir bürokrasi vardır.
Kapının ağzında kırık anahtar ile bekleme süreci başlarken yazar bu sistemin ne denli zorlukla işlendiğini bize aktarır. Ve aklımıza koskaca bir büroklasi eleştirisi bırakır.
Çağdaş İrlanda edebiyatının sağlam kalemlerinden olan #máirtínócadhain hiyerarşik sistemi eleştirirken bir memurun hayatı sorgulamasını, hangi sisteme neden hizmet ettiğini düşünmesini sağlıyor.
Kısa ama doyurucu, haklı bir veryasın gösteren bu metini okumanızı tavsiye ediyorum.
#anahtar #aneochair #máirtínócadhain #berrakgöçer #selyayincilik #selyayıncılık
Yönetmeliklerle, kararnamelerle, kutsal andıçlarla dolu evrakların bir odaya sıkıştırıldığı ve bu işi -kısmen- hakkıyla yapan sıradan bir memuru belki işin düştüğünde, belkide bir üstü "kıdemli" memur S.'yi tanıyabilirsin.
S'nin tatile çıkıp J'nin bir odada kilitli kalarak unutulmasıyla başlar bu roman. Bir geceyi zor geçiren J. sesini duyurduğu temizlik görevlisi kadına varlığını ispatlasa bile onu bekleyecek olan koca bir bürokrasi vardır.
Kapının ağzında kırık anahtar ile bekleme süreci başlarken yazar bu sistemin ne denli zorlukla işlendiğini bize aktarır. Ve aklımıza koskaca bir büroklasi eleştirisi bırakır.
Çağdaş İrlanda edebiyatının sağlam kalemlerinden olan #máirtínócadhain hiyerarşik sistemi eleştirirken bir memurun hayatı sorgulamasını, hangi sisteme neden hizmet ettiğini düşünmesini sağlıyor.
Kısa ama doyurucu, haklı bir veryasın gösteren bu metini okumanızı tavsiye ediyorum.
#anahtar #aneochair #máirtínócadhain #berrakgöçer #selyayincilik #selyayıncılık
July 9, 2021
Kafka'nın Dava ve Şato eserlerini andıran, yarattığı atmosferi kısa bir eserde harika şekilde kuran bir kitap. Berrak Göçer'in çevirisi de oldukça akıcı ve başarılı. Kafkaesk bir karabasan
January 12, 2020
A conscientious junior civil servant gets locked in his boss’s office; hilarity ensues. That’s about it. The fact that our hapless protagonist is called J. makes it hard to avoid the much-overused K. word. Suffice to say if our Franz had been born in Dublin rather than Prague and all other things had stayed much the same then he could easily have dashed this off on his spare weekends:
The world we’re presented with here is Kafkaesque, yes, but it is also Dickensian; I’m thinking here of The Circumlocution Office which Dickens featured in his novel Little Dorrit to describe, and parody, the government bureaucracy of his day:
I, myself, worked in the Civil Service for about twelve years and although I was around for the introduction of microfiche viewers and, eventually, desktop computers the world I remember was one not unlike the one Ó Cadhain describes here. Of course here he takes everything to the extreme but like any good caricature the reality is still patently recognisable.
The Key is closer in tone to Flann O’Brien than Samuel Beckett but despite the fact bureaucracies of this ilk exist across the globe and farce is not exclusive to Ireland the tone of the book is quintessentially Irish. I can imagine Spike Milligan playing every single character in this, even the women. In fact the problems in both Puckoon and The Key are a direct result of the same thing: bureaucratic incompetence. A little common sense can go a long way.
In my opening sentence I pretty much explained the whole novel. The plot is paper thin but that’s not important. It’s a situation comedy. I can find no instance of it being adapted for the stage but I can envisage it perfectly, the trapped man on one side and his… let’s go with comforters (I’m thinking Job from the Bible here) on the other. Not that most of his various visitors or callers (the phone has never rung as much) are of much help or comfort and even when a locksmith arrives…
My one criticism of the book, although I can see why he did it, is the fact it’s written in a single block of text. For the most part it’s no bother but when several people are talking it can get a bit messy. Fortunately, for the most part, we rarely have more than one or two voices to contend with.
A brilliant wee book and as relevant today as it was when it was written sad to say.
Who made the Civil Service? God. What does the Civil Service make? Civil Servants. What are you? A Civil Servant. Why were you created? To be in this office. What is the purpose of this office? To serve paper. What is the purpose of paper, and memoranda? To serve the Civil Service. What is the purpose of the Civil Service? To serve the State. What is the purpose of the State? To serve the Civil Service ...
The world we’re presented with here is Kafkaesque, yes, but it is also Dickensian; I’m thinking here of The Circumlocution Office which Dickens featured in his novel Little Dorrit to describe, and parody, the government bureaucracy of his day:
Such a nursery of statesmen had the Department become in virtue of a long career of this nature, that several solemn lords had attained the reputation of being quite unearthly prodigies of business, solely from having practised, How not to do it, as the head of the Circumlocution Office. As to the minor priests and acolytes of that temple, the result of all this was that they stood divided into two classes, and, down to the junior messenger, either believed in the Circumlocution Office as a heaven-born institution that had an absolute right to do whatever it liked; or took refuge in total infidelity, and considered it a flagrant nuisance. (Longer extract here.)
I, myself, worked in the Civil Service for about twelve years and although I was around for the introduction of microfiche viewers and, eventually, desktop computers the world I remember was one not unlike the one Ó Cadhain describes here. Of course here he takes everything to the extreme but like any good caricature the reality is still patently recognisable.
The Key is closer in tone to Flann O’Brien than Samuel Beckett but despite the fact bureaucracies of this ilk exist across the globe and farce is not exclusive to Ireland the tone of the book is quintessentially Irish. I can imagine Spike Milligan playing every single character in this, even the women. In fact the problems in both Puckoon and The Key are a direct result of the same thing: bureaucratic incompetence. A little common sense can go a long way.
In my opening sentence I pretty much explained the whole novel. The plot is paper thin but that’s not important. It’s a situation comedy. I can find no instance of it being adapted for the stage but I can envisage it perfectly, the trapped man on one side and his… let’s go with comforters (I’m thinking Job from the Bible here) on the other. Not that most of his various visitors or callers (the phone has never rung as much) are of much help or comfort and even when a locksmith arrives…
He was laying in to the door when the Guards stopped him, on the instructions of the civil servants who had taken advice on the matter: ‘A private locksmith cannot interfere with a door such as this unless requested to do so by the Board of Public Works. Do you have written authorisation from the Board of Public Works? No. Where is A.? If you give the equipment to A., he can do it ... A. is not available?’You get the idea. Not an ounce of common sense amongst the lot of them.
My one criticism of the book, although I can see why he did it, is the fact it’s written in a single block of text. For the most part it’s no bother but when several people are talking it can get a bit messy. Fortunately, for the most part, we rarely have more than one or two voices to contend with.
A brilliant wee book and as relevant today as it was when it was written sad to say.
January 21, 2021
"Fat cats pay no heed famished mice"
I have so much respect for Cadhain, and this absurd and funny office tale was exactly up my alley. The formality of the unbroken paragraph really drove the story home for me, that the story of the "paper-keeper" is told unbroken across the pages seems important even if half of the content is almost mundane in its bureaucratic non-sense. Of course it reminds me of Kafka but with a linkage toward satire and black comedy unashamed of its politics.
I have so much respect for Cadhain, and this absurd and funny office tale was exactly up my alley. The formality of the unbroken paragraph really drove the story home for me, that the story of the "paper-keeper" is told unbroken across the pages seems important even if half of the content is almost mundane in its bureaucratic non-sense. Of course it reminds me of Kafka but with a linkage toward satire and black comedy unashamed of its politics.
November 22, 2022
written in a style that was too hard for me to read and reflect on. dialogues keep on intermingling with each other thus making me indifferent to what the hell is going on in the story. I dont even know who is who anymore. who is A J N Old One, Fitzprick...
July 18, 2025
Zajímavé sledovat některé paralely s Kafkou a dozvědět se, jak na absurdní byrokracii nahlíželi v Irsku. Kvalitou to ale za mě přirovnávaný Zámek či Proces zdaleka nedotahuje. Jinak ale bezva čtení na odpoledne včetně prímové eseje o autorovi.
June 27, 2021
Trochu jako Zámek od Kafky, ale výrazně kratší (yay!) a zábavnější (YAY!). Jednohubková cesta do hlubin úředníkovy duše ve světě, kde úřad a fascikly jsou posvátné. Skvělý to bylo.
May 13, 2024
birader kendini gogol saniyor
February 4, 2025
Těžší rozjezd, ale nakonec paráda.
March 6, 2025
Gregor Samsa sabah uyandığında böceğe dönüşmeyip işe gitseydi başına aynı bu durum gelirdi. Tam tiyatro oyunu olmalı bir metin, komik ve kararında.
December 17, 2016
A hilarious novella, a farce of black comedy and satire, involving a civil service employee who is stuck in an office, and anyone who is anyone in the realms of power and influence are helpless simply to open the door and let the man out because of all of the red tape involved. He begs for freedom, starving to death behind the door, but even he, as a civil service employee, believes in the necessity of the red tape that keeps him from his freedom. A satirical glance at government and social politics, easily readable in a couple of hours, both entertaining and effective.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews