This article reflects on several aspects that concern literary translators and readers of literature. It deals with the need of re-translating literary works, for different reasons, such as censorship or the fact that they were made though a third language. It also mentions the role of literary translators as authors of a literary genre called translation and the related question of authorship. It recalls the historical debate about literal versus free translation, and presents some ideas about whether each generation should propose its own translated version of a literary work.