This paper proposes a critical analysis of figurative language in literary translation, focusing on four different translations (2 French and 2 Italian) of Richard Brautigan’s most celebrated novel, Trout Fishing in America (1967). In particular, the paper examines the strategies employed in the target texts to meet the allusiveness and figurative richness of Brautigan’s writing. Some sociological considerations will also be made on the issue of retranslation and its scopes in the contemporary publishing scene