In 1969, the Irish-born writer Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) published the piece of short prose
Sans in French. One year later, it was followed by a translation (by Beckett himself) into English titled
Lessness.
An interesting characteristic of this work is its combination of dense aural and structural patterning and apparent
randomness. Both versions consist of 24 paragraphs containing a total of 120 sentences. Each sentence occurs twice, once in the first half of the work and once in the last. Beckett later indicated to critics that the order in which the sentences in
Lessness appear had been determined randomly by drawing little slips of paper out of a container.
Nice buzz, Sam:
