The Censor’s “filthy synecdoche”:

Samuel Beckett and Censorship

Abstract

This article considers Beckett’s lively use of “offensive” material—sexual and faecal—as it stages a confrontation with censorship practices. Following recent political readings of Beckett’s work, the article argues that Beckett is interested in exposing the structural paradox at the heart of the censor’s position and the instability of institutionalised moral borders. It draws on the novels Molloy and Watt, among others, and reviews Beckett’s early essay “Censorship in the Saorstat.”