Retranslation is an activity of the utmost importance in the European literary system, and one that still has not been analysed in its manifold implications. This introduction, together with the bibliography at the end of the volume, offers a state-of-the-art of the scholarly debate on this issue, opening up the way to the new perspectives offered by the following papers. The reasons behind retranslations, the notion of « ageing », the ideological and poetical implications of retranslations, their frequency, and the so-called «retranslation hypothesis» are some of the issues explored in the various contributions of this volume. Retranslation is symbolic of the ephemeral nature of translation, but at the same time it foregrounds the importance of translation as an essential tool in canon formation.