An important part of the task of an oral interpreter performing a piece of literature in translation is to deal with some of the difficulties inherent in the analysis and performance of such literature. The interpreter must examine the basic accuracy of the text; decide which of several translations to use in performance, choosing the one that best renders both the spirit and sense of the original text; be aware of what can be lost in translation, such as double meanings; realize what is seldom translatable, such as aberrations in punctuation or forms integral to comprehension of the message; and show what the original would have been like had it been conceived in English. (Extensive footnotes and illustrations are included.) (TJ)