This article focuses on self-censorship in the domain of literary translation through examining a corpus comprising a novel by Emile Zola, Nana (published in France in 1880), and five of its British translations published between 1884 and 1992. The chapter is particularly concerned with the 1884 translation because of its elements of self-censorship. The data revealing self-censorship is divided into two categories. On the one hand, there are fairly obvious examples of modifications made due to linguistic delicacy. On the other, there are more subtle interventions: through a close study of these elements it is possible to divine specific dominant target culture sensibilities and ideologies of the time. With reference to the 1884 translation and subsequent translations of Nana, other issues pertinent to self-censorship are examined: the relationship between creativity and (self-)censorship; the failures of self-censorship and public censorship; and the relationship between self-censorship and compliance with social forces. The case study turns out to be particularly instructive with regard to the topic of censorship. It is found that Bourdieu's structural censorship, control exercised by the structure of society itself, is a necessary foundation of both public censorship and self-censorship.