In the French novel Ipso Facto, by Iegor Gran, an ordinary French citizen is pushed to the margins of society after loosing his high school diploma. Without a diploma to provide the legal foundation for his adult life, his career, his marriage, and his sanity eventually crumble. Although this novel is in part fantastic, it provides a stunningly accurate satire of the French bureaucracy, which I have experienced first hand as an English teaching assistant in France. After three months in the employ of the French government, I am astonished when I come back to the United States and am able to accomplish simple tasks without paperwork.
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