This paper does not attempt to present or define an overall concept of descriptive translation equivalence. Rather, the author tries to show that one way of approaching the relationship between the ST and the TT in the case specifically of literary texts is through an analysis of their literary structure, applying concepts from narratology, textual semiotics and reader response theory. A second way of looking at the relationship is in terms of the pragmatics of the text: more specifically, the sociocultural knowledge which the T1 writer assumes the reader will bring to bear upon the text.