Public discussion was forbidden. More Pricks Than Kicks, the 1934 book by Samuel Beckett, was banned on the strength of its title alone, although that came from Jesus's words to St Paul, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." From then on, Beckett's heroes became the image of the wholly impotent man, short on both sexual prowess and economic power. They went on to help him win the Nobel Prize.