In this innovative study, translation and mimesis are brought together to provide answers to the challenging question of how to represent multilingual realities in literature. Thomas O. Beebee uses the concept of 'black-box' issues, or situations where the exterior is known but not the interior, to shed new light on the aspects of the translational process that translations as finished products obscure. This study compares modern and contemporary literary works from around the globe that have translation as a central theme, and that treat one of four black-box issues: language as embodiment; unknown language; conversion; and postcolonial derivations.