This contribution combines a textual genetic approach with translation criticism to analyze instances of repetition removed by Lise Chapuis in her French translation of Antonio Tabucchi’s second novel, Il piccolo naviglio (Le Petit Navire). Drawing on a genetic dossier comprising three typed versions of the French translation, the study shows that this intervention was made at a late stage in the process. It was driven by the author’s reluctance to edit and authorize the translation of a work he regarded more as a “writing laboratory” rather than a fully realized novel, and it was made in agreement with the French publisher. The analysis further demonstrates that the removal of repetition contributes to lightening the style in certain passages, and softens the narrator’s marked irony, without fully eliminating it. More broadly, the article shows that a published translation may be the outcome of a negotiated process involving multiple agents and advocates an in-depth exploration of translation processes through translators’ drafts, as well as greater attention to the preservation of their archives.