Abstract
This paper explores the constraints language deconstruction and ungrammaticality in Margerite Duras’s novels impose on the translation process. Given its “value” in Duras’s work, ungrammaticality seems to dictate the translator’s choice of literal translation to English or Spanish, except when the differences between language systems do not allow for literal translation and require creative ways to capture the source text and its effects. However, a review of several published English and Spanish translations of Duras’s novels has revealed that a more powerful constraint is imposed on translation and conflicts with the above-mentioned mechanism. This fundamental constraint is the acceptability of the proposed translation by the target culture.