''More Pricks Than Kicks'' is a collection of short prose by Samuel Beckett, first published in 1934. It contains extracts from his earlier novel, ''

Dream of Fair to Middling Women ''Dream of Fair to Middling Women'' is Samuel Beckett’s first novel. Written in English "in a matter of weeks" in 1932 when Beckett was only 26 and living in Paris, the clearly autobiographical novel was rejected by publishers and shelved by th ...

'' (for which he was unable to find a publisher), as well as other short stories. The stories chart the life of the book's main character, Belacqua Shuah, from his days as a student to his accidental death. Beckett takes the name

Belacqua Belacqua is a minor character in Dante Alighieri's ''Purgatorio'', Canto IV. He is considered the epitome of indolence and laziness, but he is nonetheless saved from the punishment of Hell in ''Inferno'' and often viewed as a comic element in ...

from a figure in

Dante's Dante's is a nightclub and live music venue in Portland, Oregon. The venue, located along West Burnside Street and owned by Frank Faillace, hosts a variety of acts ranging from burlesque to rock music. Dante's is housed in an unreinforced masonr ...

Purgatorio ''Purgatorio'' (; Italian for "Purgatory") is the second part of Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', following the '' Inferno'' and preceding the '' Paradiso''. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of D ...

'', a Florentine lute-maker famed for his laziness, who has given up on ever reaching heaven. The opening story, "Dante and the Lobster," features Belacqua's horrified reaction to the discovery that the lobster he has bought for dinner must be boiled alive. "It's a quick death, God help us all," Belacqua tells himself, before the narrator's stern interjection to the contrary: "It is not." "The Smeraldina's Billet Doux" is a love letter to Belacqua in fractured English by the German-speaking Smeraldina Rima, a character based on Beckett's cousin Peggy Sinclair. Other real-life originals of ''More Pricks Than Kicks'' characters include Mary Manning Howe (the Caleken Frica), Ethna MacCarthy (the Alba), and Lucia Joyce (the Syra Cusa). Almost uniquely for Beckett's male characters, Belacqua shows a marked enthusiasm for the state of matrimony, marrying in quick succession Lucy, Thelma bboggs, and the Smeraldina Rima. The final story, "Draff," centres on his funeral. At the suggestion of his Chatto editor, Charles Prentice, Beckett added another story, '"

Echo's Bones ‘Echo's Bones’ is a short story by Samuel Beckett that was originally written in 1933. The Europa Press published a stand alone version of the story in 1935. This edition included 25 copies signed by Becket. The title is an allusion to the m ...

," to the manuscript. In it, Belacqua returns from the dead. Prentice rejected the story, and it remained unpublished until 2014 (

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...

and Grove Press).

References

Short story collections by Samuel Beckett 1934 short story collections Works based on Purgatorio Chatto & Windus books {{1930s-story-collection-stub