Research On The Holistic Approach To Translating Chinese Classics Into English From The Perspective Of Memetics

The word “meme” was first coined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene. Memetics became a new discipline through Susan Blackmore's The Meme Machine, ever since then, it has been applied to many fields such as linguistics and philosophy which brought about tremendous achievements. Andrew Chesterman thinks that translation is a way to transmit memes and Translatology belongs to memetics. In his opinion, any theory related to translation can be explored from the perspective of memetics. Currently, domestic research on memetic translation is vigorous, domestication and foreignization has always been a heated topic. Many scholars think that domestication is necessary in the initial phase of meme translation whereas foreignization is the final requirement. However, the research on writers of the source language and readers of the target language from the perspective of memetics usually neglects the role of the translator. Furthermore, the argument that foreignization is the trend of meme translation actually denies the role of the translator and it holds that meme can even control the translator. Therefore, using memetics as the theoretical framework, this thesis aims at exploring three factors of holistic approach put forward by Huang Zhongxi which are the writer, translator and reader from the perspective of memetics to make a supplement to the holistic approach. The significance is that on the basis of previous studies of domestication and foreignization in memetics and inspired by the holistic approach, this thesis probes into the creativity of the translator in memetics to enrich meme translation strategies so as to make it more explanatory. At the same time, the organic integration of holistic approach with memetics is an attempt to the theory and practice of translation. This thesis chooses the masterwork Six Chapters of a Floating Life translated by Lin Yutang as the object to be explored.The three factors, namely, the writer, translator and reader are important criteria to divide the phases of meme transmission. Domestication, foreignization and creativity are important meme translation strategies. According to the classification of Nida, the culture memes of Six Chapters of a Floating Life likewise can be classified into ecologic culture memes, material culture memes, linguistic culture memes, social culture memes and religious culture memes. Lin Yutang perfectly combined domestication with foreignization when dealing with the translation of the above five culture memes. However, due to lack of creativity, memes of target language lost glamour of source language to some degree. For example, the translation is too plain to convey the unique feature and implicature of the original work; lack of flexibility of special cultural terms makes it hard for western readers to understand.This thesis can be divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction which includes research background, purpose and significance, data collection and methodology and structure. Chapter 2 is the literature review which includes the review of the research on the Chinese classics into English translation, the holistic approach, the current domestic and foreign situation of memetics in translation and the embodiment of holistic approach in meme transmission. Chapter 3 is the theoretical framework of meme and memetics. Chapter 4 is the holistic approach in memetics of Six Chapters of a Floating Life which includes an introduction of Six Chapters of a Floating Life translated by Lin Yutang, application to “fidelity” and “readability”(which are foreignization and domestication) in five culture memes of Six Chapters of a Floating Life and lack of creativity when Lin dealt with meme translation. Besides, the improvement of creativity is attempted to give. Chapter five is the conclusion which includes the major findings, limitations and suggestions.