ABSTRACT
The mechanisms of the literary market, and literary taste at the target pole appear to function as commercial and aesthetic censors affecting the distribution and reception of translated literature. Comments on the translation proper usually refer to the text's readability, or lack of it. Reviewers and, by extrapolation, target readers appear to be particularly sensitive to any kind of deviation from modern, standard and idiomatic English prose; Americans, moreover, often object to emphatically 'British' translations. Relatively short, artistic and mannered novels appear to be the favourite type in contemporary Dutch fiction. The Foundation for Translations has, to a certain extent, also adjusted its earlier basically source-oriented policy. By providing financial assistance, the Foundation for Translations tries to create openings on the level of publication. It professes a readiness to take into account the prevailing cultural taste at the target pole without, entirely relinquishing its source criteria of 'excellence'.
