 Indeed, Schleiermacher’s theory of translation constitutes a great landmark in the subject, and his 1813 essay is arguably the single most important work on it ever written. Not only are the theory’s central claims important and defensible, but it has also exercised an enormous influence on subsequent translation theories, such as those of Walter Benjamin or, more recently, Antoine Berman and Lawrence Venuti with their “foreignizing” approach. Moreover, it is often superior to these descendant theories (e.g., avoiding the religious mysticism that Benjamin adds and preserving the traditional concern with meaning that Berman and Venuti exclude).