This paper focuses on the status and function of self-translation of the work of Samuel Beckett. Beckett wrote virtually all his works in two different languages, being responsible himself for the second version of the vast majority of his texts. Walling draws attention to the fact that this research area is more complex and challenging than might at first sight appear. Firstly, the translations were not always done in the same direction: some were made from English into French, while others move from French to English. Secondly, the relationship between the two versions varied at different stages of Beckett's career, some translations being undertaken years after composition of the original text, while others were embarked on before completion of the original. Finally, Beckett increasingly found himself writing texts that he knew he would be translating, so that what was initially unanticipated became more and more routine and began indeed to be taken into account as the original text was being written.