Founded on a broad metaphor-theoretical basis, this book investigates the metaphor as translation problem from a descriptive point of view. Particularly in their function as medium of the grotesque – an often varied content-aesthetic sample in the work of Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist, as well as 15 German translations constitute the corpus. Apart from the different effects of metaphors in literary texts, translation-relevant aspects are addressed: semantic congruence, collocation rules, foregrounding, cultural imbedding, valuation, the phantastic, polysemy, and lexicalisation. Translation comparison and analysis of translational behaviour conclude the investigation.