This paper brings new light to the old dichotomy between the creative author and the imitative translator in a study of self-translation. On the basis of a comparative study of an original work in Catalan and the author’s own translation in Spanish, the paper was able to confirm that the author had completely assumed his role as translator and that it constituted an extreme case in the field of literary translation since a single person was bringing to bear two sets of skills and carrying out two tasks which are generally performed by two different people. Study of this self-translated work permitted more objective analysis of the specific role of the translator in comparison with conventional translations. The article is based on a conception of the relationship between author and translator which sees the role of the translator as one of ‘co-authorship’ of the literary work being translated.