This book is an eclectic discussion of a handful of translation theories and their potential impact on practising literary translators. In the foregoing sections, I explored a range of theoretical ideas, mostly from literary studies or translation studies, but with clear links to other fields, such as cultural studies and philosophy. I looked at definitions; some of the large concepts in translation studies are often treated as dichotomous, namely fidelity, equivalence, distance and (in)visibility; identity; power and ethics.

Another work on translation theory could have progressed chronologically through different views or might have focused on a particular culture, issue or theorist, but the topics included here were those that happened to appeal to me at this specific point in my own life and in the life of our world. It strikes me that as we are faced with evermore urgent challenges – pandemics, climate change, wars, constrictions on particular societal groups’ movements or rights – communication is incredibly important. How we engage with one another and the ideas and feelings we share could lay the foundation for fewer – or, unfortunately, additional – problems in the future. So I believe there is a strong need to think about what we are doing when we translate and to consider how our work affects us, the people around us and the planet. Personally, I try to do that when I translate – such as by choosing only to work on books I believe in, insisting on my own visibility as a translator, or talking through changes with authors/editors with an aim to be ethical in my choices – but of course I am human, and make mistakes, and am confined by my living and working conditions.

In the introduction, I wrote about the view that theory cannot be ‘applied’ to practice. While I am not advocating just applying any of the ideas in this book to your work or promoting allegiance to any one approach and I would stress that a translator always has to look at an individual text as a singular case, I would argue that we do not need to see theory and practice as being in opposition. They can and should inform one another and ideally practising translators would produce theories while theorists would also be translators.