The World As Representation Of The Self: A Study Of Beckett's Realistic Style In More Pricks Than Kicks

More Pricks than Kicks is Samuel Beckett's first formally published literary work. As it is a collection of short stories, this work was not given due attention in the past as Beckett's mature novels and plays were by the critics. This thesis is intended to focus on an analytical study of More Pricks than Kicks through close reading so as to present the unique realistic style of Beckett in his early writing, that is, from the truthful description of the outer world to the representation of the psychological reality of the self. The present thesis will approach Beckett's realistic style in More Pricks than Kicks from three aspects.Chapter One is devoted to tracing the philosophical and aesthetic basis of More Pricks than Kicks in an attempt to show how Beckett comes to adopt the unique realistic style in his writing. The social and cultural atmosphere in Paris and Beckett's profound reading of the philosophical and literary masterpieces are attributable to this unique style. The influences of four great figures upon the writing of More Pricks than Kicks will be analyzed: two philosophers, Rene Descartes and Arthur Schopenhauer, who inspired Beckett in his philosophical thinking about life, and two writers, Marcel Proust and James Joyce, who functioned as role model for Beckett in terms of style and artistic techniques.Chapter Two analyzes the traditional realistic aspect of More Pricks than Kicks, namely, the truthful description of the outer world. Beckett puts some of his own life into the work to reproduce an outer reality. This marks that Beckett's writing also starts from a comparatively realistic style. However, Beckett's uniqueness lies in the fact that the narrator's description of the outer world is mainly through the protagnist's perspective and its scope is rather limited, so this objective world is in fact a subjective impression of the protagonist.Chapter Three probes into the psychological reality of the protagonist so as to present the metaphysical and rhetorical aspects of More Pricks than Kicks and to further reveal the world of the self or the world of essence. The protagonist's thinking and being are characterized by three pairs of paradoxes, namely, the dilemma between attraction and rejection to love; the pendulum between motion and stasis, and the swaying between laughing and crying, which are rhetorically presented by oxymoron. Hence, the essence of life is a struggle to maintain a balance between these pairs of...