MARXISM AND IRISH COMMUNISM IN BECKETT'S MORE PRICKS THAN KICKS

Specific historico-political elements in Beckett's More Pricks Than Kicks afford encounters with Marxism as related to 1930s Irish Communism. These encounters expose the failure of communist discourse to promote change in the material conditions in a postcolonial capitalist Irish society. It will be argued that the increased social visibility of communism during the 1930s is inscribed within Belacqua's movements through Dublin. This essay, then, examines the function of textual references to Marxism and Irish Communism in More Pricks Than Kicks through which Beckett confronts the political and social context of the Irish Free State.