Translation scholars have long been interested in studying the characteristics and process of retranslation. However, the descripitive study of reedited translated texts – as well as editing and revision in general – has so far evaded the watchful eyes of researchers. Mentions of reedited texts in translation studies are few and far between. Thus the aim of this paper is to summarize and connect the existing theories on retranslation and editing, and on that basis compare the first and then reedited translation of a modern literary novel. The study involves discussing the reasons behind reeditions, analyzing the operations of the editor and examining the effected revision parameters – that is exploring how re-editing can improve the quality of a translated text, without retranslating it. In this case study, two published Hungarian translations – the translation and reedition – of a classical tale, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis will be compared first using computerised statistical methods, and then by contrastive text analysis. The quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal that the editor concentrates mainly on the norms of the target language and – in contrast with the retranslation hypothesis – does not aim to bring the translation closer to the original source text. The editor performs a series of editorial operations which result in a text that is more acceptable and easier to process for the reader.

Keywords: retranslation, reediting, parameters, editorial operations, optimalisation