Pudenda of the Psyche: Embarrassment in More Pricks than Kicks

Chapter 2 explores the relation between embarrassment and pride in Beckett’s early works. Juxtaposing personal letters and selected stories from the 1934 collection, More Pricks than Kicks, embarrassment emerges as a marker of the superiority Beckett himself regarded as a symptom of his anxiety neurosis. After discussing certain pre-emptive strategies against embarrassment, the chapter proceeds to close readings of stories in which we see embarrassment being counteracted through Belacqua’s identification with Christ - a manoeuvre that does not confer humility but rather reinforces the character’s sense of proud otherness. Beckett’s early and incidental embarrassment is then briefly contrasted with the later work’s representation of an existential embarrassment. The latter is conceived as an aspect of humility in which the embarrassed human condition is accepted without recourse to self-protective reflexes.