In its store of received wisdom Translation Studies has such aphoristic admonitions as "Translated only works you find congenial", "You'll become your author's mirror image", or "You'll be in your author's mind". In this paper the author argues that eventhough such admonitions are not untrue, they do not indicate the nine-point spectrum of affective relations a translator may have with the text, ranging from identification with the author to rejection of him or her. Midway the translator can be found allying with the text and taking over from the author contrasted with the translator allying with the text because of his deference to the author, e.g. Gilbert's and Ward's translations of Camus's L'Étranger.