Abstract
This self-reflexive case study by Lee and Chan proposes the idea of textual memes, defined as the thematic and/or formal economy of the source text fossilised in a particular configuration of signifying resources in the source language. Textual memes are abstract; they constitute the aesthetic logic or motif underlying a piece of writing, and are instantiated by concrete discursive units. As far as concrete poetry is concerned, translation responds to its source text by developing and extrapolating textual memes built into the latter, and does so by way of activating resources in the target language. The chapter illustrates this by responding to four concrete poems by Taiwanese poet Chen Li by way of advancing the authors’ own English translations.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aarseth, E. (1997) Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature, Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Bassnett, S. and P. Bush (eds) (2007) The Translator as Writer, London: Continuum.
Bruno, C. (2012) ‘Words by the Look: Issues in Translating Chinese Visual Poetry’, in J. St. Andre and H. Y. Peng (eds) China and Its Others. Knowledge Transfer through Translation, 1829–2010, Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, pp. 245–276.
Chang, F. L. (tr.) (2000) Photo of Egyptian Scenery in the Dream of a Fire Department Captain http://faculty.ndhu.edu.tw/~chenli/book8.htm#Photo_of_Egyptian_Scenery) [accessed 01/08/2016].
Chen, L. (2014) The Edge of the Island: Poems of Chen Li, tr. C. Fen-ling,Taipei: Bookman.
Chesterman, A. (2016) Memes of Translation (Revised edn), Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Dawkins, R. (1976) The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University.
Entomological Society of America (2016) Common Names of Insects Database (Common Names of Insects Database, Entomological Society of America, http://www.entsoc.org/common-names/) [accessed 01/08/2016].
Gibbons, A. (2012) ‘Multimodal Literature and Experimentation’, in J. Bray, A. Gibbons and B. McHale (eds) The Routledge Companion to Experimental Literature, London: Routledge, pp. 420–34.
Ho, G. (2004) ‘Translating Advertisements across Heterogeneous Cultures’, The Translator 10 (2): 221–243.
Lee, T. K. (2015) Experimental Chinese Literature: Translation, Technology, Poetics, Leiden: Brill.
Perteghella, M. and E. Loffredo (eds) (2006) Translation and Creativity: Perspectives on Creative Writing and Translation Studies, London: Continuum.
Saldanha, S. and S. O’Brien (2014) Research Methodologies in Translation Studies, Abingdon: Routledge.
Susam-Sarajeva, Ş. (2009) ‘The Case Study Research Method in Translation Studies’, in I. Mason (ed.) Training for Doctoral Research: Special Issue of The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 3 (1): 37–56.
Parker, D. S. (2015) Hitler's Warrior: The Life and Wars of SS Colonel Jochen Peiper, Boston, MA: Da Capo Press.
Yin, R. K. (2014) Case Study Research: Design and Methods (5th edn), Los Angeles, London and New Delhi: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lee, T.K., Chan, S.WK. (2018). Transcreating Memes: Translating Chinese Concrete Poetry. In: Boase-Beier, J., Fisher, L., Furukawa, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Translation. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75753-7_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75753-7_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75752-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75753-7
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)