The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the development of a coherent theory for literary translation. The article discusses some of the main issues that have always been raised by literary translation, such as its possibility or impossibility, whether translation is or is not, or can become a science, or the concept of faithfulness and the dichotomy freedom/literality. The author analyses the opinion of various translation theorists and concludes that literary translation is another form of literary activity which, apart from the attitudes typical of literature, requires a specific theoretical scope. This theoretical framework should be freed from the guardianship of other studies related to language and meaning, and should aim at establishing principles and concepts which help to understand and facilitate the translation task.