Chesterman Andrew. Memes of Translation: The spread of ideas in translation theory

John Benjamins, 1997. — 219 pages. — (Benjamins Translation Library). — ISBN: 9789027216250.Memes of Translation is a search for coherence in translation theory based on the notion of Memes: ideas that spread, develop and replicate, like genes. The author explores a wide range of ideas on translation, mapping the meme pool of translation theory with chapters on translation history, norms, strategies, assessment, ethics, and translator training. The aim of the book is to search for a perspective from which the immense variety of ideas about translation can be related.
The unifying thread is the philosophy of Karl Popper. The book proposes the beginnings of a Popperian theory of translation, based on the fundamental concepts of norms, strategies, and values. A key idea is that a translation itself is a theory or hypothesis concerning the source text. This hypothesis is then subjected to testing, refinement, and perhaps even rejection, just like any other hypothesis.Survival machines for memes
Introducing memes
Five translation supermemes
The locus of memes
A Popperian meme
The evolution of translation memes
Words
The Word of God
Rhetoric
Logos
Linguistic science
Communication
Target
Cognition
Theory in the current meme-pool
What next?
Review
From memes to norms
Normative vs. prescriptive
Norm theory
Norms of language
What counts as a translation?
Translation norms
General translation laws and normative laws
Norms as constraints
On expectancy norms in English
Implications
Translation strategies
General characteristics of strategies
A classification
Motivation
Translation as theory
Tentative Theory, Error Elimination and translational competence
Retrospective assessment
Prospective assessment
Lateral assessment
Introspective assessment
Pedagogical assessment
Mind the gap!
The development of translational competence
Stages of expertise
The significance of memes
Teaching strategies
Ontogenetic = phylogenetic?
Bootstraps
On translation ethics
Background issues
Norms, values and actions
Clarity
Truth
Trust
Understanding
The Translator's Charter
Emancipatory translation