Else Ribeiro Pires Vieira sketches the evolution of literary translation in Brazil during the last years and demonstrates how it led to the concept of transtextualization, a post-modern translational aesthetics. The author explains how, broadly speaking, translational discourse in the eighties in Brazil exposes the tension between the authority of the source text on the one hand, and the autonomy of the translated texts on the other hand. The metaphor of cannibalism is often used to clarify both Brazil’s resistance to and digestion of foreign influences. In this article Ribeiro Pires Vieira discusses the following Brazilian authors and their recurring themes to illustrate some features of translational aesthetics in Brazil: Augusto de Campos and 'intranslation'; Haroldo de Campos and ‘transtextualization”; and Silvanio Santiago and “double plagiarism”.