During the 1970s Even-Zohar set out from the assumption that literary translations are primarily facts of the receiving culture or target system. In this essay, he theorizes literature as a “polysystem” of interrelated forms and canons that constitute norms constraining the translator’s choices and strategies. Even-Zohar imagines the body of translated literature as a system in its own right, existing in varying relationships with original compositions. A minor literature – minor in relation to longer and more richly developed literary traditions – may assign translation a central role in spurring innovation. In a major literature, translation may be assigned a peripheral role, conservatively adhering to norms rejected by original writing.