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Why regret it when I enjoyed it? I could have enjoyed MORE of it. You see, I found out much later that Monkey is an abridged version of Journey to the West. This is one of the four classic Chinese novels. I've read (and generally loved) the other three: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, and Dream of Red Mansions. Now I've r
I kind of regret buying this book. I thought it looked like a fun little read when I saw it in the mythology section, so I picked it up (several years ago).Why regret it when I enjoyed it? I could have enjoyed MORE of it. You see, I found out much later that Monkey is an abridged version of Journey to the West. This is one of the four classic Chinese novels. I've read (and generally loved) the other three: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, and Dream of Red Mansions. Now I've read an abridged version of the last one, when I would have much preferred to read the full unabridged text. I'll still have to do that at some point.
Still, I can recommend this book pretty enthusiastically to some people at there. Reading the other three books mentioned above, I undoubtedly tried to sell you on them (directly or indirectly). Perhaps you were even a bit interested.
However, I recognize that the other three, thousand+ page monsters can be pretty intimidating, particularly since they feature so many characters with names that are difficult to pronounce and keep straight if you are not particularly familiar with Chinese names. Monkey is only about three hundred pages, and style wise is a much easier read as well. There are fewer important characters, and they have more easily pronounced/remembered names (Monkey and Pigsy being two of the main four characters). This story is also quite a bit more of a folk tale than the others, so it remains noticeably simpler. That said, it retains the very classic style that I haven't seen anywhere besides these Chinese novels. The charmingly formal well that people address one another (even the taunts before battles are formalized in a very unique way). This would be a great book to use as your trial run into classic Chinese literature, and if you enjoy the general style of it, you will enjoy the style of the longer and more difficult books as well.
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Well, perhaps I should not feel too proud, as Monkey is an abridgement of a much larger work, Journey to the West, which is more than six times longer. But as the original book is episodic—consisting of misadventure after misadventure on the way to India—the reading experience of this shorter version is seamless, as it merely consists of fewer episodes.
Authorship of this book is normally attributed Wu Cheng'en, who seems a rather tepid character in comparison to his book. But Wu—or whoever the author was—had ample material to work with. By the time that Journey to the West was written, there was already a very old oral tradition concerning the 7th century Buddhist pilgrim, Xuanzang (called Tripitaka in this version), and his many trials on the way to India. The author's accomplishment consists in arranging these many stories into a coherent whole, and telling them in lively, colloquial prose.
The closest European counterpart I can think of is Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Rabelais, which was written at very close to the same time. Both books are absurd and strikingly irreverent, and filled with gusto and a zest for life. But of course, the parallel is not exact. While both works parody conventional politics and religion, Rabelais's work is more thoroughly earthy, while Wu's has higher, spiritual resonances, especially as the book progresses. Indeed, I admit I felt slightly holy myself by the time I put it down, as I read it during my own little pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. The book was a perfect companion
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After this break I then went back about 20 pages and started again. This time it stuck, I sailed through the rest of the book, and really enjoyed it. I think if I hadn't of struggled it might have been 5 stars, but all in all I think 4 is a fair mark. Its funny, I read about 50 pages of this then lost the thread and started struggling with who was who, to such an extent that I put it down for a few months.
After this break I then went back about 20 pages and started again. This time it stuck, I sailed through the rest of the book, and really enjoyed it. I think if I hadn't of struggled it might have been 5 stars, but all in all I think 4 is a fair mark. ...more
Because this was published in 1943
Kudos to Arthur Waley for somehow reducing this 100-chapter classic of ancient Chinese literature into a 30-chapter abridgment that makes sense. Certainly many hard choices were made along the way. There is almost none of the florid court poetry that the original has in abundance, and many fun adventures wound up on the cutting room floor, but what remains captures the spirit, humor, suspense, and moral lessons of Wu Cheng'en's "Xi You Ji" (Journey to the West).Because this was published in 1943, all spellings follow the Wade-Giles guidelines instead of the cleaner, truer Hanyu Pinyin. This will hardly matter to readers with little knowledge of Chinese pronunciation, but I'm not a big fan of the earlier British Imperial language system for Mandarin and it slowed me down.
Waley also chooses quaint names for his quartet of seekers and loses any subtlety or richness in the process. Zhu Bajie (Eight Precepts Swine) becomes "Pigsy", for example. The priest Tang Sanzang becomes "Tripitaka" rather than "Hsuan Tsang". Tripitaka is "Three Baskets" (the very Buddhist Scripture this priest and his disciples are traveling to India to receive) and, as applied to this questing monk, is dry and reductive. It's rather like translating "Moses" as "The Tablets". I wasn't a big fan of this choice, either.
All in all, a 3.5-star treatment of a 5-star story.
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The only difficulty with MONKEY comes from trying to remember all of the various deities and sub-sections that Heaven is made up of. Almost every ch
The last thing I'd expect a hundreds-of-years-old slice of classic Chinese literature to be is fun, but that's exactly what MONKEY is. It's great fun! It's a delight to read, a thoroughly modern action-adventure storyline that embodies the classic 'journey' narrative and packs it to the brim with all manner of outlandish incident and constant humour.The only difficulty with MONKEY comes from trying to remember all of the various deities and sub-sections that Heaven is made up of. Almost every character in the story is divine in some way, and that's overwhelming at first, but the more you read, the more it all makes sense. Monkey himself is a great protagonist; he starts off as completely annoying, but the reader gradually warms to him as the narrative progresses. Monkey never changes, but the reader gets to know and like him instead. The rest of the characters, Tripitaka, Pigsy, and Sandy, are built to entertain.
Arthur Waley's translation is a joy to read, and probably the most readable version of a 16th century story that you'll ever find. It's also surprisingly modern in places, complete with back-stabbing, betrayal and low brow humour. The story is tumultuous and fantastic and yes, epic in the true sense of the word; the only problem is that this is an abridged version of a much, much longer original, and thus it makes you long to read the full-length version.
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For those unfamiliar with the story, we follow a monk, Tripitaka
Thank you to Penguin for the review copy; it was a real treat to read this new version by a translator and scholar I really admire. Up to now I've been familiar with the Waley translation in Penguin Classics and I took the opportunity to read them side by side. This is an important translation and a major addition to the canon of English translations, and it's wonderful to see such a playful, modern, dynamic and enjoyable version.For those unfamiliar with the story, we follow a monk, Tripitaka as he journeys to India to collect sacred sutras, accompanied by the magic and mischievous Monkey (the real hero of the piece) and disciples Pigsy (comic) and Sandy (strangely underused), encountering all sorts of gods and monsters on the way. It is a road trip, a quest for spiritual understanding, and a satirical and allegorical comedy. Tripitaka, or Xuanzang, was a real historical character who, travels aside, almost certainly bore no relation to the character here.
Lovell is clear about the debt to Waley in her introduction. She has kept Waley's recognisable character names Pigsy and Sandy, but has translated more and different episodes from the journey itself. Her approach to translation is much more modern, consciously sacrificing "linguistic fidelity to be true to the overall tone" – for instance, if she can't translate a pun exactly then she will find other ways to convey the wit or wordplay (I liked 'playing Yama's advocate', for example), while Arthur Waley relied on footnotes to explain (or, in one case, not to explain: "There is probably a pun here; but I cannot see it"). Lovell also drops a lot of the remnants of oral storytelling (such as the recapitulations and several of the 'if you want to know what happened next, read on' type passages at the end of each chapter).
I haven't gone back to Journey to the West in many years (discounting Donnie Yen and Damon Albarn) so it was a real treat to come back to the text. There were a number of things that really struck me about it in this translation – it's possible that these are things that I had not remembered or misremembered, but I think it's more that Lovell's translation really brings these features of the text out.
1) It's very funny
While Waley can be a little staid, adaptations of Monkey tend to come out more madcap and zany than actually funny. Yes, Monkey has an energetic, childish sense of humour, but he also develops to be witty, irreverent and eloquent, not to mention humane, spiritual, and a serious, devoted pilgrim and servant to his (often distrustful) master. Lovell translates with a punchy style that is tonally closer to comic English writing and really made me chuckle. Pigsy, for instance, probably the most outright comic character, has had a 'full and frank pre-nuptial discussion' and wanders off with a 'touch of melodrama'.
Lovell finds humour in playing with the expectation of literary Chinese being translated into highfalutin English in the prose (with the occasional phrase like 'for it was he' delivered with a wink), while also puncturing pretensions with more informal modern language ('don't mention it', 'compadres' or 'living their best lives'). When one demon says to Monkey 'Extraordinary impudence. Prepare for a pounding!', he responds 'Fine by me, swing away'. It could have jarred, but it is skilfully done here and keeps it light and funny.
E.g: "Before he left, Subodhi remade is earlier point more forcefully. "After you leave this place, you're bound to get up to no good. I don't care what villainy you perpetrate; just don't tell anyone that you were my disciple. If you breathe a word of what I did for you, I'll flay your wretched monkey carcass, grind your bones to dust, and banish your soul permanently to the Place of Ninefold Darkness. And I'll only be getting started."
"Right you are. If anyone asks, I'll tell them I'm self-taught."
Compare with Waley's translation of the last part: "I certainly won't venture to say a word about you," promised Monkey. "I'll say I found it all out for myself".
As well as the pleasingly bonkers passages, the slapstick and burlesque, the puns, and the witty changes of tone, it's also occasionally quite dark, such as the offhand way we are told one character 'quietly committed suicide after all'; and when another is 'happy to leave this world to become an infernal fruit courier'.
2) It's a good satire of officialdom
Disclaimer here: I'm a faceless bureaucrat in my day job. Perhaps it's down to this that it particularly appeals to me now, but the satire of officialdom is excellent, and reminded me of reminded me of Yes, Minister here and there, helped by the translation embracing the language of the modern official without going full jargon. For instance, where Waley had Monkey ask "what class of appointment is it?", Lovell has him ask "what grade am I in the civil service", exactly the phrase I or a fellow Sir Humphrey might ask. The Jade Emperor now has a 'director of communications', for instance, while Monkey has a 'social network' and clerical errors mean that "from that point on, most mountain monkeys never got old, for the Underworld no longer had their names and addresses."
3) The episode selection is revealing
Like Waley's translation, this is abridged. Both versions share the origin stories of the characters and the quest, but Lovell has chosen a different selection of episodes of the journey itself than Waley, only overlapping (I think) in the series of competitions with Immortals. Lovell has chosen more and shorter escapades. She has chosen at least one episode where a demon appears to be the match of Monkey or get the better of him, and several where Tripitaka's shortcomings (in particular distrust and resentment of Monkey) are apparent, really fleshing out the characters.
Even in an abridged version the monsters, tricks, battles and transmogrifications can be repetitive, but Lovell has picked out some interesting ones that I didn't know. Take, for instance, the kingdom in which 1,111 little boys are preparing to be sacrificed, their parents too afraid to weep, whose 'only outlet for protest is satire' – child sacrifice aside, could that description not be life in any warzone or dictatorship?
Also take the passage in which Tripitaka and Pigsy become pregnant, narrowly avoiding suffering violent sexual attack, and require Monkey to go to Dissolving Maleness Mountain to get water from the Abortion Spring. Who knew that 16th Century Chinese satire could find an intersection with contemporary feminist politics?
4) It's also moving and thoughtful
As with all satires, it works because it has heart and poetry as its foundation. Some of the descriptions are beautiful ('rainbows of golden light shimmered through purple mists, evergreen grasses and ever-blooming flowers'), and I found the tragic family history of Tripitaka very moving. Somehow, the offhand way in which characters can travel between earth, the underworld and heaven, or can be killed and resurrected by gods and Bodhisattvas, adds a spiritual backdrop which deepens the sorrows which afflict some of the human characters. There is real heart in Monkey, and it's very present in this version.
This extends also to the serious bits, the spiritual lessons and guidance that are dotted around. Monkey advises a king in total seriousness: 'don't worship false religions and respect the unity of the three faiths'. Unsurprisingly it is Buddha who imparts perennial wisdom, in particular about the cruelty and immorality of the world (but this doesn't stop his attendants being venal themselves). Tripitaka is a fascinating central character – a monk on a sacred journey who doesn't appear to undergo any spiritual development. That, of course, is the point: the scrapes and escapades the gang get into on this journey serve to prove Buddha right. The world is cruel and people are fearful and uncomprehending. Monkey, on the other hand, might be crass and might seek magical power and immortality, but he has 'awoken to emptiness' (his name, Sun Wukong), the state of the world at the beginning of everything. 'To advance from emptiness, living creatures must first become aware of it'.
5) It's not the Chinese Lord of the Rings
Pet peeve time. The advertising copy for the US edition of this describes it as a Chinese 'Lord of the Rings' and an 'all-time great fantasy novel'.
I know you've got a book to sell. But firstly, this is the second book I've reviewed in the short life of this blog described as the 'Chinese Lord of the Rings'.
And secondly: it's not. That's not an accurate description in form, tone, content, style, meaning… anything. The only thing they share is a journey at the heart of them.
I had this in the back of my mind when reading it, even straining for parallels between Monkey and Gollum. But it's such a stretch, it would worry me that it would come as a disappointment to some readers attracted by the copy.
If you really need a Western parallel you don't need to look far: Don Quixote, say, Gulliver's Travels, Tom Jones, or the Canterbury Tales, which the UK copy uses. I don't think you need to, but if you must: please don't pretend it's something it's not.
One final point for Penguin: you now have superlative translations of Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (full honesty: I haven't read that last one yet). Come on, give us the full set of the Big Four Classic Chinese Novels – let's have an exciting new translation of the Water Margin.
Journey to the West is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.
The novel is an extended account of the legendary pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang who traveled to the "Western Regions", that is, Central Asia and India, to obtain Buddhist sacred texts (sūtras) and returned after many trials and much suffering.
In the book, the mo
According to Wikipedia:Journey to the West is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.
The novel is an extended account of the legendary pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang who traveled to the "Western Regions", that is, Central Asia and India, to obtain Buddhist sacred texts (sūtras) and returned after many trials and much suffering.
In the book, the monk is named Tripitaka. His three disciples, Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy accompany him on his journey.
I am glad that I read this book because it is a Chinese classic. However, I thought the story hard to follow. Therefore I can give it only
3 stars
The copy I read is the abridged version. I think the original is 4 volumes and entitled Journey to the West.
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Although Monkey is an abridgement, it doesn't read like one. It really feels like a full story. Most of what was omitted consists of individual adventures along the pilgrims' journey to India to fetch Buddhist scriptures. Since these mini adventures are largely self-contained, you don't notice their absence when reading, although the ending does come off as somewhat abrupt.
I've been wanting to read some Wuxia for a long time due to my personal interest in martial arts. Wuxia is basically Chinese martial fiction, and it is hard to find anything in this genre with less than 2,000 pages. I specifically chose this abridged version because I wanted to get a soft start rather than dive right into a 2,000-page brick only to give up.
Though the translation is not perfect, the style is sometimes archaic and the ebook version contains some digital transfer errors, Monkey still fulfilled my expectations. And I expect this won't be my last wuxia novel. Despite the drawbacks, I'm giving this five starts because I know I'm going to be thinking about this story for a long time.
Note:
While it definitely helps to first have some basic knowledge of Buddhist philosophy and terms (i.e., the difference between Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Arhats) and the major figures (Guatama/Sakyamuni, Kwan Yin, Amitabha and the Taoist Lao Tzu), you could easily get by without any such prior knowledge and probably learn a good deal about Chinese beliefs simply by reading this book.
Interesting trivia: Dragon Ball is based on Journey to the West. The Monkey King is called Sun Wukong in Chinese and Son Goku in Japanese. Hence the name of Goku in Dragon Ball, who is based on the Monkey King.
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In any case, the "monkey" of the title is Sun Wukong. This story, which is so well known is Asia, is usually known as "The Journey to the West" (without "monke
I'm embarrassed to admit that I learned only recently about Sun Wukong, a very famous monkey character all over Asia. That is to say, billions of people on earth are quite familiar with Sun Wukong, and I didn't know he existed until about a year ago! The planet is becoming smaller and smaller, but there are still some East/West divides...In any case, the "monkey" of the title is Sun Wukong. This story, which is so well known is Asia, is usually known as "The Journey to the West" (without "monkey" in the title). The story, credited to Wu Cheng'en, dates to the 16th century. This version was translated by Arthur Waley, a British scholar, in the mid 20th century.
I'm so glad to have read this tale. It's hard to describe; my one sentence summary would be "The Ramayana meets Don Quixote". What does that mean? It reminds me of Don Quixote in that it was written hundreds of years ago in a land far away, yet parts of it are laugh-out-loud funny to this 21st century American. It reminds me of the Ramayana in that it has an epic scope (characters include the Buddha, Kwon Yin, Lao Tzu, etc.), and a powerful monkey is in the mix trying to do the right thing to serve his master. (In the Ramayana, it is "monkey"/vanara Hanuman who serves Ram; here, Sun Wukong is primarily serving the Buddha. Unlike Hanuman, who is quite earnest, Sun Wukong is a scamp/trickster and much more morally ambiguous than dear Hanuman.) The "journey to the west" in question is a trip from China to India to fetch some scriptures.
Why four stars instead of five? There are times when the writing feels stilted to me. I'm guessing that Waley was trying to translate literally (as literally as one can translate from Chinese to English, that is), and so the prose at times feels dense.
I'm very glad to have read this; I'm very glad that I have now joined the billions of people who know this whimsical tale.
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it may be that i just don't get it, i don't know. maybe i am just too ensconced in the traditions of western literature to really appreciate it. but it just fell flat.
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For those who are wondering about the *complete* translation of this classic: There have been multiple versions of this, because authorship in the old China is not what you assume. People added their own fancy as they hand-copied the book(s), and it's hardly possible to distinguish which part is authenti
I read this in Japanese, so I cannot comment about the quality of the English translation. Part adventure journey, part human comedy disguised as fantasy. (Very cynical to government bureaucracy)For those who are wondering about the *complete* translation of this classic: There have been multiple versions of this, because authorship in the old China is not what you assume. People added their own fancy as they hand-copied the book(s), and it's hardly possible to distinguish which part is authentic. Again, I cannot comment about this specific version, but it just might be a good idea to start with this rather than the longer version.
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I should also note this is an abridged version. I'm
I'm not sure about this translation, wasn't a fan, however, I really enjoyed the story. It's a fun book with plenty of humor, adventure, and fantasy. Most people probably know the story already without realizing it because the story of the Monkey King has been retold numerous times, most notably Dragon Ball Z takes several ideas from this story. Besides the Monkey, I also enjoyed Pigsy and Sandy, s this has a unique cast of colorful characters.I should also note this is an abridged version. I'm not sure I'll ever find or want to read the full version. As much as I like the story, if I'd ever read the full version it'd have to be a really good translation.
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Part of what holds the chaos of this story together, though, and keeps it pleasurable, is the sense that there is a kind of architecture beneath it, some guiding principle. Without this feeling I think it would lose its cohesion and momentum. For Monkey is a so-called 'folk novel' (something I've never heard of), which includes battling gods and monsters and kings and savage animals and even fighting planets. Probably it is meant to be instructive, to intentionally teach precepts of Buddhism. I'm thinking that's where the feeling of structure comes from. The Monkey goes through a definite transformation as he starts as a wild creature running amok, undergoes a period of restraint and penance, and then becomes a champion of wisdom. Perhaps his journey is the journey we all go through as we tame our instincts toward maturity, or holiness, or even a comfortable pension.
My favorite scenes are the 'contests of transformation,' which happen twice, where competing adversaries shapeshift into different forms as they fight, constantly escalating their powers through the creatures they assume. I'd love to see that stuff on film.
A quote: "Lift Mount T'ai, it's as light as a mustard seed, but don't try to raise a mortal above the Earthly dust."
I read this for free on the Internet Archive.
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There is also this abridged version of the Yu translation: slightly longer at 528 pages.
Copying directly from Wendy - sorry, Wendy, it's just that it was really interesting:
The most popular, though much-abridged version (in translation anyway?) is Monkey: The Journey to the West. I did some research and have decided on this non-abridged version instead: The Journey to the West, Volume 1 and just take it on one volume aWaley's abridged version is widely...tolerated at least, liked by very many.
There is also this abridged version of the Yu translation: slightly longer at 528 pages.
Copying directly from Wendy - sorry, Wendy, it's just that it was really interesting:
The most popular, though much-abridged version (in translation anyway?) is Monkey: The Journey to the West. I did some research and have decided on this non-abridged version instead: The Journey to the West, Volume 1 and just take it on one volume at a time.That's alllll from Wendy. ...moreThere's a great video with Anthony Yu, the translator of the above Journey to the West, Vol. 1, (http://asiasociety.org/video/educatio...) addressing the Asia Society. During the bombings his grandfather had distracted him with Journey to the West during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. He tells a great anecdote from JttW where Monkey pees on Buddah's hand--it was the translator's favorite part as a boy (of course!). Anyway, the video is 50 minutes long but interesting (esp the first 20 min) & definitely made me want to read it!
Also, NYT has an archived review of Yu's translation from 1983: http://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/06/boo... : "The standard modern version, translated by Mr. Yu, is substantially the same as what is thought to be the first edition, in 100 chapters, published (the author was anonymous) at Nanjing in 1592. (Mr. Yu's version differs from this mainly by the addition of a single episode, drawn from a short version of the novel dating to about the same era.)
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, "The Monkey" is an abridged adaptation of Wu Cheng'en epic tale, "The Journey Of The West".
Written way back in the 16th century, we follow a band of unlikely outcasts; the pragmatic monk, Tripitaka, the ever mischievous and magical Monkey (who is most definitely the star of the show), and then the more tame (?) duo, Pigsy and Sandy (perhaps the Pumba and Timon of our tale), who join forces, embarking on the ultimate quest
Oh man, what a ride this was!For those of you unfamiliar with the story, "The Monkey" is an abridged adaptation of Wu Cheng'en epic tale, "The Journey Of The West".
Written way back in the 16th century, we follow a band of unlikely outcasts; the pragmatic monk, Tripitaka, the ever mischievous and magical Monkey (who is most definitely the star of the show), and then the more tame (?) duo, Pigsy and Sandy (perhaps the Pumba and Timon of our tale), who join forces, embarking on the ultimate quest to the west!
Their mission, should they choose to accept it (which so far they have -hurrah), is to simply cross the mountainous ranges and perilous rivers of Central Asia. Battling all manner of villainous monsters and irritably priggish gods, so that they can obtain and translate the sacred scriptures (sutras) of Buddhism in India, in order to then enlighten the people of China and East Asia.
Now, I am not exaggerating when I say that this was honestly the most surprising, right old rollicking of a book I've read this year so far! Although an abridged version, "The Monkey" is jam packed with exhilarating exploits, outlandish satire, and a sprinkling of cultural, spiritual and philosophical insight for good (zen) measure. And I LOVED IT!
*Word of warning* as much as I have just literally gushed over how much I enjoyed this book, Like Tolkien, it is very much a world building narrative. Full of various sub-plots, deities, battles and good old (and I mean old) fashioned familial feuds. Of course all highly engaging and entertaining threads, but does still make for a pretty arduous memory game at times! (Especially if you're like me, and have a brain like a sieve!)
Anyway, I of course can't forget to end this unsurprisingly, rambling review, without giving a HUGE round of applause to Julia Lovell, the translator of this here gorj edition. Who's done an abso-bloomin-lutley amazing job of translating and condensing an almost 400 year old, 2,000 page, Chinese piece of text, Into 339 pages, that still manages to retain a classic 'journey' feel, yet with a fresh lick of modern, nutty (sometimes even nonsensical) action-adventure paint!
4 stars for ma 4 pilgrims!
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I think I read a different book four years ago. It definitely was a different translation. This time around, I really enjoyed the Journey to the West, or better known as "Monkey" translated by Arthur Waley. The story was easy to follow and quite funny. I never lost track of what was going on. I'm glad that I give this another chance. Monkey is a powerful, ingenious rascal, whose only fault is his self-absorbed regard for himself. I especially loved the beginning of the book, w
Review (July 2016):I think I read a different book four years ago. It definitely was a different translation. This time around, I really enjoyed the Journey to the West, or better known as "Monkey" translated by Arthur Waley. The story was easy to follow and quite funny. I never lost track of what was going on. I'm glad that I give this another chance. Monkey is a powerful, ingenious rascal, whose only fault is his self-absorbed regard for himself. I especially loved the beginning of the book, when Monkey rules over his own kingdom and causes chaos in Heaven (which is supposed to symbolize the government). Out of the four Chinese classics, this is by far my favorite book. And it's not a long read!
"What's the use of living so long in the world if you haven't learnt even to recognise a joke when you hear one?" - Monkey
Review (April 2012):
Guess this isn't my cup of tea. I chose this book, because I'm right now going through a "read books set in Asia" phase. Among the many books set in China, this wasn't about the communists, Cultural Revolution and torture. It's one of China' most popular folktale. So I thought, ok I'll give it a try. The way the story was told was unusual and there was no suspense. Too many old words were used. It may be the fault of the translation. But I'm not angry that I read this book. There are good books and bad books, that's life.
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"I first heard the story in the Japanese drama, Saiyuuki back in 2006, MONKEY MAJIK / Around The World theme song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afnj1...
The books is even better so far!"
Just loved the book, it's tone is perfect and Monkey is such a great character, while Pigsy supplies plenty of laughs. My favorite part of the book is the three Taoist deities, the trick that Tripitaka's three disciples play on them and how the competition between them turns out.
"I first heard the story in the Japanese drama, Saiyuuki back in 2006, MONKEY MAJIK / Around The World theme song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afnj1...
The books is even better so far!"
Just loved the book, it's tone is perfect and Monkey is such a great character, while Pigsy supplies plenty of laughs. My favorite part of the book is the three Taoist deities, the trick that Tripitaka's three disciples play on them and how the competition between them turns out.
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So this is the third of the Four Great Chinese Classical Novels I've read, and it might be the most like what we tend to think of these days as a 'novel'. Three Kingdoms and Water Margin both feel more like epics, following the landscape of whole regions at a time as dozens of characters interact within them; here, we're sticking with a smaller group on a clear mission. After a bit of a prologue in which we get some Monkey (a
This is a review of the translation by Julia Lovell titled Monkey King.So this is the third of the Four Great Chinese Classical Novels I've read, and it might be the most like what we tend to think of these days as a 'novel'. Three Kingdoms and Water Margin both feel more like epics, following the landscape of whole regions at a time as dozens of characters interact within them; here, we're sticking with a smaller group on a clear mission. After a bit of a prologue in which we get some Monkey (as he's called in this version) origin story and learn about some of his abilities, as well as some of the spiritual context through meeting some deities and whatnot, we pretty much spend the novel's length hanging out with Buddhist pilgrim Tripitaka as he embarks on a fifteen-plus-year, 108,000 mile journey to obtain some sacred scrolls from India. He picks up a few 'disciples' en route: the aforementioned Monkey as well as reformed demons Pigsy and Sandy, and the four form our main cast. (Oh, and there's also a dragon who eats Tripitaka's horse and ends up transforming into a horse himself to make up for it.)
This is the first version/translation I've read of Journey to the West, and as far as I can tell it does a pretty good job. You can kind of tell it's pretty heavily abridged, and I get why - the end result is something that feels like a much sleeker story than a lot of classics - but I feel like I missed a few of the most fun-sounding episodes so I might have to find a longer version at some point! Still, no point judging this version on what it isn't or doesn't have: what it does have, as it turns out, is a lot of fun. It's sometimes genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, which is pretty impressive. There are definitely some oddities to a modern reader, but that's kind of par for the course with a book this old: values have changed, so things that were marks of heroism to the culture in which this book was written now seem strange or outright immoral.
The plot basically boils down to Tripitaka and co. gradually wandering westward and coming up against a bunch of trials on the way; in many ways the bulk of the journey feels less like one long story and more like a sitcom in which the pilgrims face a different threat each episode, with a few connecting threads but the various adventures mostly remaining discrete. Things are generally resolved in one of a couple of ways: Monkey beats up the monster with his size-shifting staff; Monkey uses transformation magic to trick the monster, gets caught, and ultimately beats it up with his size-shifting staff; or Monkey fails to beat up the monster with his size-shifting staff and runs off to get help from a deity.
This last solution happens a lot, actually; you know how Greek plays and stories often feature gods intervening to solve things, and that's where the phrase 'deus ex machina' comes from? Well, deus ex Monkey is probably the most reliable way for the pilgrims to solve things: since Heaven's on their side, a few deities are pretty willing to help them out, and Monkey's annoying enough that he can usually persuade any who weren't immediately up for it. (Also, he often travels thousands of miles to find said deity, but luckily this isn't a problem as he can jump that in less than a second. This ability comes in less handy than you might think on the pilgrimage, since he can't carry Tripitaka, but there are a lot of occasions on which the pilgrims would've been truly in trouble could Monkey not just teleport halfway around the world, or up into Heaven, to get help.)
There's a common theme around Heaven being just the most bureaucratic place you can imagine, which is often a source of real humour: demons and kings file celestial lawsuits, and on at least one occasion a minor cock-up and a bit of administrative finagling results in two people just straight-up coming back to life, one in someone else's body entirely.
Lovell's made something here that's really easy to get through; it's still got a lot of the idiosyncrasies of ancient Chinese literature, of course, because that's what it is, but I feel like what the style of this translation has achieved is a tone that feels kinda similar to how stories like this might've been initially spun by enthusiastic storytellers to enraptured listeners. It's just fun and enjoyable, requiring very little effort and no prior knowledge whatsoever to have a good time with.
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"Monkey King, duh. America might have Superman, Spiderman, Batman, and Aquaman, but all China needs is a single Monkey King," he said.
After reading Julia Lovell's rollicking translation, I now fully understand my little brother's point.
Lovell's writing is love at first sight. I learned about Lovell's talent at the same
After watching Aquaman with my nine-year-old Chinese host brother in a 4th-tier Guizhou city, I asked him who his favorite superhero was. I'll never forget his look of disdain."Monkey King, duh. America might have Superman, Spiderman, Batman, and Aquaman, but all China needs is a single Monkey King," he said.
After reading Julia Lovell's rollicking translation, I now fully understand my little brother's point.
Lovell's writing is love at first sight. I learned about Lovell's talent at the same time that I picked up drinking coffee (and having the occasional accompanying cigarette); mornings of the fall of my junior year in college were spent with her translations of Lu Xun's fiction and cheap dark roast coffee from the college canteen. Those are some of the happiest moment's of my life. This book likewise made my mind buzz while setting my heart at ease, an exceedingly rare combination. Lovell is a (braver, presumably) Tripitaka for our times.
I'll be plumbing it for choice quotes for my own writing from now until kingdom come. Here are a two of my favorites, and how I plan to use them. Mild (微辣 even) spoilers:
- After Monkey learns to "cloud-gallop," his famous 108,00 mile leap, Subodhi's other disciples say, "'Lucky Monkey!' The crowd of discipline giggled. 'If you master this, you can get a job as an express courier. You'll always be able to make a living.'" Talk about a pull-quote for an article on the plight of China's express delivery workers. Most recently, a man from the same Guizhou city where I watched Aquaman (and was introduced to Monkey's greatness) was arrested for organizing food delivery workers to speak out! What an injustice! The monkey, the king of couriers, would brook no such thing.
-Near the end of the Journey to the West, the following scene occurs. "As soon as the boatman began gently punting across the river, a corpse floated past. Monkey smiled at the terror-stricken Tripitaka. 'Don't be afraid. It's you.'" Perfect! The exact scene of the exact book of which it reminds me eludes me while I'm writing the review, but I feel it might be out of Beckett if he had been Buddhist. If I'm to get serious about this whole writing thing, I should just repeat this line over and over, my own sutra, until I achieve enlightenment.
This book couldn't be better. Had so much fun reading it. If I'm able to get to Beijing this fall, I've decided to focus my first semester on reading the original Chinese. It might take me 5,048 days, but at the end I just might have a shot at enlightenment.
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The writing style and characters are all great and it's surprisingly funny for an ancient work about Buddhism but ultimately it's quite repetitive and this provides little mo
This is an interesting little read that provides a small window into what is presumably a much more complete work. This is an abridgement of journey to the West and as such gives you the key plot beats but it's an allegorical novel at it's core so cutting out massive chunks of the allegory really damages the overall effect.The writing style and characters are all great and it's surprisingly funny for an ancient work about Buddhism but ultimately it's quite repetitive and this provides little more than you would get from a brief story summary.
It's worth a go if you're wanting to dip your toe into the Chinese classics but leaves a lot to be desired.
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Tripitaka (the monk): The main character .He is supposed to represent the best, but also the worst of humanity. He is always is jealous of Sun Wukong's power, thus he does not trust or care for Sun. And like many humans, he is EXTREMELY sensitive to praise and brown-nosing, thus he always believe Pigsy even though it is clear Pigsy never has Tripitaka's I loved this abridged version of 16th century Chinese folklore and it was very interesting.It's mix of many themes adventure, comedy, and drama.
Tripitaka (the monk): The main character .He is supposed to represent the best, but also the worst of humanity. He is always is jealous of Sun Wukong's power, thus he does not trust or care for Sun. And like many humans, he is EXTREMELY sensitive to praise and brown-nosing, thus he always believe Pigsy even though it is clear Pigsy never has Tripitaka's interests at heart
Sun Wukong (Monkey King): The actual main character and the only one who seems to get any actual development. Carries the entire team. Has a fleshed out backstory unrelated to the main plot.
It has a lot of side characters
Many anime series like Dragon ball, Naruto(my favorite one's) are inspired by this story.Someday i might read the 100 chapters long original version ...more
Rating: 🐒/🐒 ...more
When I was still in my mum's womb in 98', she was always watching an adaptation of Journey to the West (in Vietnamese we called it: Tay Du Ky). Whether it was the beloved 1986 classic or the revamped Hong Kong TVB of the 1996 version, every generation, every child and every adult has their own monkey.
Despite originating from a country that has a long history of cen
"I am Monkey, the immortal sage of Flower-Fruit Mountain and a close neighbour of your king. I'm frankly surprised you need to ask."When I was still in my mum's womb in 98', she was always watching an adaptation of Journey to the West (in Vietnamese we called it: Tay Du Ky). Whether it was the beloved 1986 classic or the revamped Hong Kong TVB of the 1996 version, every generation, every child and every adult has their own monkey.
Despite originating from a country that has a long history of censorship and oppression, Monkey King is a biting satirical allegory on Chinese bureaucracy and humanity striving for perseverance. Its endurance is evident through countless adaptations, pop cultural references and impact within Asia and beyond.
I'm so grateful to have read this story, which has shaped my childhood, adolescence and now adulthood, through a brand new translation published this year by Julia Lovell. Julia has made this almost 500 year old beloved classic accessible yet respectful to the original, and it's clear through her acknowledgment that she understand s the significance and reverence of this story and these characters.
I'm aware I wrote absolutely nothing about the story because it'd be impossible to. I'm just very happy that we have this new translated and clothbound edition by Penguin and I'm even more grateful that it was gifted to me by my best friend.
Heaven is for gods and earth for ghosts; birth and death proceed cyclically, for such is the immutable order of nature.
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I had my copy of "Monkey" on my bookshelf for a good five or so years and finally took the plunge recently.
I will say I was pleasantly surprised.
Fun little tale.I had my copy of "Monkey" on my bookshelf for a good five or so years and finally took the plunge recently.
I will say I was pleasantly surprised.
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