The essays gathered in this volume are the proceedings of a conference held in 1995 at the University of Salford (UK). They do more than provide the usual array of points of view, though, for their content is varied to the point of being syncretical. While this potpourri might accurately describe the situation of the humanities as a whole, it can be prejudicial to a relatively new discipline like Translation Studies, where commonplaces abound and focus is needed. Focus is precisely what seems to be lacking here: even after having worked my way through this collection, F m left wondering about its unifying principle.