This volume contains a generous selection of articles by Professor Josй Lambert, tracing in large part the intellectual itinerary of their author. Some four decades ago Josй Lambert started out as a young research student in French and comparative literature, trying to get a better grip on the problem of interliterary contacts, and he rapidly became a key figure in the emergent discipline of translation studies, where he is now widely known and valued as an indefatigable ambassador and promoter of descriptively oriented research. This collection shows how Josй Lambert has never stopped asking new questions about the crucial but often hidden role of language and translation in the world of yesteryear and today.