A discussion of the translation of fiction focuses on metaphors in the speech of characters. Illustrations are drawn from an Afrikaans novel, "Fiela se kind" ("Fiela's Child"), translated into English by its author, Dalene Matthee. It is argued that if the interdependence of the intratextual components of narrative texts is not taken into account in translation of metaphorical expressions, characters can be altered substantially. An adapted model for translation quality assessment and structural models of narratology are proposed for making contrastive analyses of the same character in the source- and target-language texts. In the analysis performed in this paper, the role of metaphorical expressions is examined first and a theoretical framework and terminology for their analysis and interpretation are then outlined. Finally, specific translation examples are discussed. It is concluded that inadequate translation of idiosyncratic metaphors has both semantic and communicative implications for the target-language text, causing it to lack the semantic density of the source text and to lose meaning. This method of analysis is suggested for translator training, particularly in relation to translation of fictional characters' speech. A 21-item bibliography is included. (MSE)