In this paper the author considers some of Hans G. Hönig statements in Positions, power and practice: functionalist approaches and translation quality assessment from the perspective of the theory and practice of literary translation. The thread of his argument weaves around the idea that literary translation develops through a complex series of interactions between the acts of reading and writing in which the subjectivity of the translator plays a centreal role: unless that subjectivity is critically accepted there can be little training of literary translators. The author argues that quality in the training of literary translators is about the development of reading, writing, interpreting and researching. This is encompassed in an equation that moves from writing to meaning back to writing.