It is one of the startling surprises in a translator's life to discover that the labour of translation – his creative transformation of a work, so that it may be read and received in another language – does not necessarily become easier as his experience increases and his so-called expertise grows. On the contrary, words and phrases may become more of a problem for him, more difficult to render satisfactorily, as he learns more about the intricacies and nuances of a foreign tongue and encounters more vividly and viscerally the complexities involved in ‘interpreting’ these expressions for a new audience in the transnational republic of letters. Experience and reflection are certainly not the natural enemies of accuracy and clarity, but they create a new level of exigency that is unsettling, even as they offer new opportunities for extension, elaboration, and refinement that are welcomed as an invitation and a challenge.

The title of Jean-Marc Coicaud's book, Légitimité et politique. Contribution à l’étude du droit et de la responsabilité politiques, is rather straightforward in French; I have translated it as Legitimacy and Politics: A Contribution to the Study of Political Right and Political Responsibility.