本书主要从“基本问题”、“翻译技巧”和“工作中的译者”三个方面对文学翻译的流程和技术问题进行了细致入微的探讨。本书第一章探讨文学翻译认识上的一些问题，第二章则是研究微观的问题，主要是小说和诗歌的种种翻译策略，第三章是讨论一些译者使用的工具、工作时间和空间、费用问题以及合同的注意事项等问题。本书不论对初涉译事的生手还是对经验老到的译者都会有所裨益，因为不论要使用的是哪两种语言，其基本翻译问题都很相似。

本书是一部注重实践、不卖弄术语的翻译著作。作者从多年的翻译实践经验着眼，对文学翻译的流程和技术问题进行了细致入微的探讨，为文学翻译这提供了大量信息和建议。初涉译坛的新手和经验老道的译者都能从本书中发现处理文学翻译难题的实用技巧，因为无论在翻译中使用哪两种语言，其基本问题都是相似的。本书语言风格机智风趣，简明易懂，非常感性地对文学翻译实践做出了中肯的指导。

La Derniere Translation, by Millor Fernandes

Preface

The Fundamentals

Why Literary Translation?

"Night Drive," by Rubem Fonseca

The uniqueness of literary translation

An ephemeral art

Getting started

How many languages?

Submissions: a primer

Coping with bad reviews

Preparing to translate

Down to work

Permissions

Staying on track

A day in the life of a literary translator

Stages of translation

Techniques of Translation

Decisions at the outset

Fluency and transparency

The author-translator-reader triangle

'Targeteers'and'sourcerers'

Resistance

Word by word or thought by thought?

Adaptation or translation?

Register and tone

Using tone in translation

What literary translators really translate

When not to translate cultural cues

The care and feeding of authors

The dubious project

Face time with the author

The hijacked author

Style in translation

Fiction and footnotes

Footnotes

Interpolation

Omission 

Some notes on translating poetry

To rhyme or not to rhyme?

Translating humorous verse

Other areas of literary translation

Translating non-fiction

Translating for the theater

Translating children's literature

Puns and word play.

Stalking the treacherous typo (Lapsus calami)

The dilemma of dialect

Special problems in literary translation

English before there was English

English with a restricted vocabulary: a case study

Working with subtext

Indirect translation

Pitfalls and how to avoid them

Errors of frequency

'Landmine'words: hidden traps in translating common vocabulary

Change of address: problems of the English vocative

The all-important title

Title quest: a case study 

Profanity, prurience, pornography

Pornography or'pornography'?

The crucial role of revision

How many drafts?

Final steps

Proofreading

Grammar checkers

Verifying against the source language

Where to publish

Periodicals

Commercial presses

Small presses

Academic presses

A word on self-publishing

The Working Translator

The translator's tools

References

How to use dictionaries for translation

Electronic vs. printed dictionaries

Dictionaries on the Internet

Workspace and work time

Financial matters

Taxes

Setting a price

Other translation-related sources of income

Contracts

What to include

The question

When contracts aren't honored

A final word on literary translation

Bibliography

Glossary

Appendix: Ethical questions in literary translation