Title | : | The Journey to the West, Volume 2 |
Author | : | |
Rating | : | |
ISBN | : | 0226971511 |
ISBN-10 | : | 9780226971513 |
Language | : | English |
Format Type | : | Paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 448 |
Publication | : | First published January 2, 1592 |
The Journey to the West, Volume 2 Reviews
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The second volume of the epic Chinese adventure novel covers chapters 26 through 50. It is an entirely arbitrary division of the chapters over four volumes the translator has decided upon. Nonetheless, there is a definite shift in the behaviors of the main characters, including the Tang Monk (aka the Elder), the Monkey King (aka Pilgrim, Wokung Sun, and Old Monkey), Eight Rules (aka Idiot), and the Sha Monk. Whereas volume 1 related the origins of the Monkey King and the Tang Monk's gathering of his disciples for the journey to meet the Buddha, volume 2 essentially details the episodic encounters the group overcomes on their journey to the West. Along the way, the Monkey King's story takes precedence, with the Tang Monk often falling into the background. What is more, the Tang Monk becomes annoying in his refusal to take the Monkey King's advice. As a result, he continually falls into captivity among demons and their like, always requiring rescue on the part of the Monkey King. If it sounds repetitious, it is. Yet the story contains enough changes in details to make the encounters dissimilar, if not unique. Up next? Volume 3.
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Now that we have all the introductions out of the way and the band is complete, the episodic nature of the stories quickly becomes obvious. This works really well though. Most of the individual plots can be seen as one of two categories. The first is the group coming across an evil in the land they’re travelling through. It’s mostly an enemy to conquer like a demon or a dragon, or even an obstacle to overcome like a giant river. The second is the group coming face to face with their own flaws and it just blowing up in their faces. It’s also the rivalry and jealousy between the disciples that really helps flesh them out properly.
It’s an undeniably fascinating and adventurous epic fantasy adventure. The monk Tang Sanzang is the reason all these characters are on this journey in the first place. But it’s the flawed disciples who really steal the show here. The conflicts between the monkey king and Zhu Bajie are basically a clash of enormous egos that exposes their flawed personalities. And it shows us they both still have quite a road ahead of them, if they want to reach their ultimate goal of enlightenment. -
Volume II continued to be entertaining, more so than Water Margin or Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but it is also getting repetitious. The pilgrims approach a tall mountain, the mountain is occupied by an immortal who has taken up being a demon, Tripitaka doesn't listen to Pilgrim, and the other disciples don't listen either, so the group ends up in trouble, with the monk getting captured and set aside for eating by the demon. Pilgrim fights the demon, who says he'll let the monk go if Pilgrim goes three rounds with him/her/it. They go bunches of rounds and nobody ever mentions the three-round agreement. Pilgrim fails to win, so has to go get help, usually from Guanyin.
Rinse, repeat.
Okay, once it was an 800-mile-wide river, rather than a mountain.
None of the characters is especially admirable, despite supposedly being spiritual heroes. The threat of cannibalism for the purpose of long life seems to be the main thread. -
This is the second volume of Anthony C. Yu's four-volume translation of the Chinese classic, "The Journey to the West." As with the first volume, it is quite different than I'd originally anticipated. Far from being a dry, difficult, worthy tome, it is filled with taunts, trickery, battles, monsters, and a generous helping of poetry. The narrative is episodic and repetitive, but connections between the various events help thread it together. I had intended to read a chapter a day, but was often tempted into more. Although there is a great deal of violence, the tone is very light. Suffice it to say, I didn't expect a Chinese classic to contain a scene where three of the heroes pass off their piss as holy water. A radical concept: literature is allowed to be fun.
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I somehow read volume 3 before 2 so i've had to change my reviews around.
Edit:
"Even if all that is granted," said Monkey, "he's been sleeping with the queen and the consorts in the harem. Surely this has sullied them and been an affront to morality."
"He has not sullied them at all," the Bodhisattva replied. "He's a gelded lion."
Hearing this Pig went up to the creature and had a feel. "This evil spirit's got a bad reputation he doesn't deserve," he chuckled, "like a teetotaler with a red nose."
I had a lot of different ebook versions on my reader and not sure which translations i read with previous volumes. This time i definitely started with the supposedly superior, or at least more scholarly Anthony C. Yu version but didn't like it that much so switched to the W.J.F.Jenner version which seems to read much smoother.
Some of that might just be because the names it uses at more similar to the 70's tv show i'm used to.
One odd thing in this volume the penultimate chapters seem a bit fragmented everything just resolves suddenly, i assume that isn't a translation issue though. Anyway 3 volumes down now even if i did read them in the wrong order. Still repetitive but still entertaining. -
I don't know what to say about this book. Perhaps I should just copy/paste my thoughts regarding the first book here and just add the comment "it's as annoying as the first book". Perhaps even MORE annoying than the first book because, well, at least in the first book everything seems to be new, you are getting to know the characters a little bit better and the reason why things happen that way. This book seems to be the predecessor of all the fillers in the world and is basically... "Sanzang and his disciples are travelling. Sanzang is kidnapped. Disciples rescue him.". Repeat this throughout 500 pages. There you have it. Journey to the West volume 2.
Frankly, I lost all my hopes that this story can get any better. I'm fed up with Sanzang's stupidity (because, seriously, I would find it acceptable for a person to commit the same mistakes twice or thrice in a book, but the stupid monk just keeps doing it all over again!!), with Pig's ill intentions and with Friar Sand's uselessness.
Well, at least Wukong is evolving in terms of personality. In a VERY, VERY subtle way, but at least he is the only one that looks like he's at least TRYING to be a better being. -
Some people stop around the middle of reading this. I honestly wonder what where they thinking when they decided to invest their time with this story. Continuously repetitive in certain events, completely overstuffed with characters we haven't heard of before. Yet I have fallen in love with these characters, their development and their ways to get out of trouble. So I enjoyed every single page I've read so far.
The poetry, just like the first volume is a must read. The battles are more varied in this one. Sun Wukong has his fair share of them and those written in poetic prose are eye watering. Pig and Friar Sand have some epics as well.
All in all, when coming into this "series" you should expect to read all 4 volumes as if they were 1 book. It's a slow burn but that's the point. I understood it since the beginning and I'm sticking to it till the end. -
The Journey to the West-Volume 2 was a excellent and Chinese classic, fantasy book. I enjoyed it so much and loved it from beginning to the end. In each task and action in this journey was thrilling and captivating that made me feel that I was going along with the pilgrims searching for the scriptures from Buddha's western heaven. The translation was great.
I know that I have a third volume to go. Trust I'll read it once I get my hands on it. As for the volume # 2. I rate with 5 top stars. Even though it deserves 10 stars and I would recommend anyone to read this book. =)~ -
With this volume done, I'm officially half way through The Journey to the West as the version it was meant to be read. I imagine that this was not the pace at which it was meant to be imbibed, as the stories are variable enough for an every so often oral recounting around the fire, but not enough for the comparatively speedy pace I've been undertaking, two volumes done in roughly two months. As such, I can't fault this volume too much for becoming monotonous, as the way in which Sanzang and co repeat their directives and backstories at least once a story arc is emblematic of something that was meant to be memorized and passed down. The fact that I'm able to race through it like this attests to the inexorable march of time, but I doubt slowing down and reading the stories aloud would help me any. TJttW is not the only work of literature in my sights, and while it doesn't compare favorably with others that I'm reading, it still offers an interesting window looking out onto the time of folklore and religious politics during which Wu Cheng'en collated his stories. And, of course, there's the lit cred to consider, a standard that is admittedly rather cheap, but does provide a good amount of drive.
As I said previously, this volume was much more uniform in material than the preceding volume. Everyone has been found, the journey is on its way, and barring habitual bickerings between Monkey and Pig, Monkey and Sanzang, and all against various demons, the pace is a tad too regular to interestingly maintain itself for another fifty chapters. There were further intriguing glimpses of religious clashes, including a very intense one between Buddhists and Taoists that may attest to the shift in religious majorities the further one traveled from east to west. It's also interesting to note how demons are never really demons, but either cursed gods, animal spirits, or even long-winded punishments for a seemingly innocuous offense, which makes Monkey's almost political maneuverings with both Heaven and the Bodhisattva more logical than it would be in other stories. I wouldn't call it a mystery novel, but it is unusual how diplomatic things can get amongst the smashing in of skulls and tricking of others into drinking one's own piss, especially when the culprit ends up being the wayward offspring of some excruciatingly penitent parent. I won't say it was the most interesting occasion ever, but it is worth noting how Confucianism informs the story amongst so many other ideologies, and the fact that something so steeped in such can still manage to spawn the like of 'Dragon Ball Z' is a prime instance of reality being stranger than fiction, to say the least.
It's interesting to think where I'll be once I've finished this work. I have 800 or so pages to go, and by then, I'll probably have started the precursor class for my master's degree, or maybe even have dived headfirst into going to school full time while working nearly full time, something I hope I can keep up for the sake of paying rent. TJttW wouldn't make for good small talk on a date, but if I can find someone with a general appreciation for the fact that I have enough books to constitute an actual personal library, I'd maybe cut down on the reading a tad and do a little more living. That's the great unknown, though. In the meantime, I have a lengthy translated classic to finish. -
Our heroes continue their pilgrimage and commit all kinds of mischief, including killing children! This volume is less interesting than the first one because the episodes become redundant. In most of them a monster abducts the Tang monk and the monkey rescues him. There's little variety in the story, and some chapters are almost identical.
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See Greg's review.
A lonnnng story, but then it encompasses years of travel (and travail!) by the three disciples and the Master. Further on the enlightenment of the beings. Some of the stories are longer in this Volume II. Monkey is still impatient, Pig coarse, and Friar Sand impetuous, and Master Sanzang seems along for the ride. As always, in dealing with the monsters they encounter, they display those characteristics. Important in Chinese history. Some nice poetry here and there.
"When many years ago from my emperor I was parted,
on endless days and nights of travelling I started.
In the mists upon the mountains my grass sandals were worn through;
Many ridges have I climbed in my rain-hat of bamboo.
How often have I sighed when the gibbons call at night?
I cannot bear to listen to birds chirping in the moonlight.
When will I achieve the three Samadhis, I implore,
and obtain the Tathagaha's most wonderful Law?"
How could such a handsome master have such hideous disciples? The Tang Priest answers: They may not be much to look at, but they certainly know how to clear paths across mountains, build bridges across rivers, subdue dragons, tigers and capture monsters and demons. Not without humor, when they visit a monastery, the monks are terrified of the disciples apppearance:
" . . They crawl on the ground as they stumble and fall,
and all of them trip getting out of that hall.
One old monk's head with another one clashes,
Just like the collapse of piled-up calabashes . . .
The sight of the monks stumbling and crawling around made the three disciples clap their hands and laugh aloud, at which the monks were more terrified than ever. Colliding with each others heads they all fled for their lives and disappeared." Sanzang ultimately restores sanity. The monks bring in candles and prepare a vegetarian meal for the four men and their horse. -
By this point, Cheng'en's novel has found its groove and sticks pretty closely to it. We're over the initial exposition and into the more procedural portion of the story. Weak but wise Sanzang, brave but cocky Monkey, strong but greedy Pig and... the somewhat extraneous fourth wheel Friar Sand are on their journey to the West, subduing demons and rescuing their mortal human master left and right. There's a certain sameness to some of their adventures, and not a lot of character development, as this is more a collection of intertwined folk tales than a novel with modern literary structure. Still, a good read, almost a stylistic fusion of the Old Testament's literary structure with a comic book's genre and style.
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My thoughts on this book are essentially the same as
The Journey to the West, Volume 1, so I don't think an entirely new review is necessary. I'll make a fleshed-out review of the collective work once I'm all done with all of the volumes, which will take a while! -
The translation is throughly, clear, and well annotated. The journey itself really reminded me a lot of old Taoist and Buddhist myth and legend and well... feel... that I got from my childhood. I'm reading this a few pages a night with my son, and the legendary aspects can be pretty violent at times, and the humor is often startling.
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Where the first volume was largely table-setting and worldbuilding, the second settles into a picaresque rhythm of demon-fighting and Bodhisattva intervention. Terrifically fun and inventive within its tight formal constraints.
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It was slow to get through this in different parts, but it's amazing how the formulaic nature doesn't get TOO old. Any complaints are definitely not with the translation, which is stellar.
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Since I decided to be a chaperone for Jenny's trip to China in the spring, I figure I should learn some more about the country. This is a recommendation from
http://wikitravel.org/en/China. -
On to Volume 3!
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My review of the entire work is in volume 1.
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THE JOURNEY TO THE WEST, THE CHINESE WIZARD OF OZ, THREE MUSKETEERS, DON QUIXOTE AND PILGRIM'S PROGRESS----FROM THE WORLD LITERATURE FORUM RECOMMENDED CLASSICS AND MASTERPIECES SERIES VIA GOODREADS—-ROBERT SHEPPARD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
"The Journey to the West" (西遊記, Xi You Ji) is perhaps the most beloved book in China. It is once a great action, travel and adventure story, a mythic and phantasmagorical Odyssey and Quest, an epic of Buddhist pilgrimage and devotion, a comic classic, a tale of brotherhood and loyalty in the Musketeers tradition and a humanist allegory of the striving of disparate dimenbsions of the human condition, the organic-physical, the imaginative-intellectual, the quotidian-realistic and the aspirational-spiritual, towards human wholeness and unity. It is one of the four great classical novels of Chinese Literature, alongside the Dream of the Red Chamber, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Water Margin, and is beloved in popular culture across East Asia outside of China, being the object of films, television, cartoons, video games and graphic novels from Japan to India.
The Journey to the West, in broad outline, tells the story of the long,arduous and dangerous pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, or Tripitaka of Tang Dynasty of China across the wastes and mountain barriers of Central Asia to obtain and translate the sacred scriptures of Buddhism (sutras) from India and bring them to enlighten the people of China and East Asia. This High Quest and Pilgrimage is joined by an extraordinary league of heroes, without whose aid the monk's mission would be doomed: The magical-mischievous Monkey-King Sun Wukong, the physically awesome and insatiable "Eight Precepts Pig" Zhu Bajie or Pigsy, the gritty and down-to-earth monk Sandy or Sha Wujing and the monk's faithful White Horse, Yujing, all recruited by Guanyin, the "Buddhist Virgin Mary" helping maternal spirit who overwatches them through their many trials and adventures. Together, this band of diverse heroes must overcome the perils of the arduous journey across the Himalayas, especially the demons, beasts and devils en route that wish to defeat their mission of bringing enlightenment to the peoples of China and the world. The most engaging and dominant of these questing heroes however, is the sly, mischievous and magically super-empowered Monkey-King Sun Wukong, who has become the immortal beloved central figure of the classic, such that many translations, such as Arthur Waley's early edition, was simply entitled: “Monkey."
From our Western experience, then, how can we get an initial handle on and approach The Journey to the West? One of the first notional points of contact is to compare its characters with the group dynamics of the band of journeying fellows of Yellow Brick Road: the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion alongside Dorothy in Frank Baum's fantasy classic "The Wizard of Oz." Both classics of fantasy are beloved by children across the world. In the Wizard of Oz the Tin Man lacks a heart, the Scarecrow lacks a brain and the Cowardly Lion lacks courage, while Dorothy, although endowed with each in an immature form must grow and mature in each direction. In the Journey to the West, in contrast, each character is overindowed in one dimension----The Monkey-King has immensely precocious powers of intelligence and cunning, yet lacks the discipline, spiritual wisdom and maturity to make his intelligence and pluck more than a nuisance; Pigsy has immense physical strength accompanied by gargantuan appetites, both culinary and sexual, yet lacks the intelligence, self-control and either human or spiritual inslight to turn his lust for life towards a love and service of life; Sandy is practical, down to earth and even tempered, yet lacks the inspiration of either intelligence and imagination, carnal appetite or spiritual aspiration to make his life meaningful; Xuanzang the Tang Monk, has spirituality and humanity, yet they, like Dorothy are powerless and helpless in their brave new world, unable to cope with challenge unless aided by outside powers.
The key point is that the four together, either as a group or as symbolic representatives of the internal "organs of human potential" of any human personality, may unite to constitute human wholeness and the capacity for transcendent growth and sustainability. We see other echoes of complementarity in other familiar works of our classical heritage: Don Quixote is a paragon of nobility and the spirituality of knightly aspiration, yet lacks any grasp of the real world or the perspective of reason that would make him more than a charicature of his aspirations; Sancho Panza, has the peasant's down-to-earth practicality and resourcefulness, yet lacks the aspirational nobility of soul and spirituality that would make his life meaningful. Together, however, they can aspire to whole human personality and potential.
In the Three Musketeers saga of Dumas, Porthos, like Pigsy and Rabelais' Gargantuan * Pantagruel, is endowed with gigantic physical strength and appetite for life, Athos has a keen sense of honor and glory, Aramis has a religious and spiritual calling and the young D'Artagnan, like Dorothy has innate courage, uprightness, pluck and intelligence, but only in an immature and weak state that must benefit from greater experience, insight and growth to be capable of dealing with the challenges,complexity and evils of the real world. It is again, only working together that they may in full complementarity grow to human wholeness and the human potential for stregnth in life and capacity for positive transcendence. We could even find the same dynamics in the comic trio, the Three Stooges, with the physical excesses of Curly Joe, the practical worldliness of Larry and the overly sadistically over-repressive Moe, who yet still exhibits some fortitude and leadership potential. Though mere buffoons, they show the power to complement each other to grow towards greater wholeness of spirit, a potential fusion of a charicatured outline of Freud's id, ego and superego, that ultimately evokes our deeper affection. Similarly in the Chinese traditional spiritual cosmology, neither the female nor the male principle in isolation, the Yin and the Yang, can attain the wholeness and sustainability in life but by creative and fruitful interfusion with the other.
In Volume I of this edition of the "Journey to the West" our story begins with an account of the origins and precocius life of that miraculous and beloved being, Sun Wukong, the Monkey-King. The Monkey-King is in effect half-human and half-simian, miraculously born from a stone nourished by the Five Elements, and like all homo sapiens chagrinned at the dilemma of his finding himself betwixt and between----too endowed with the intelligence and imaginative energies of the gods to be a mere animal, yet too flawed and immature in their development to take a fruitful place in the divine order of things. Sun Wukong thus quickly rises to become the King of the Monkeys by virtue of his innate abilities, yet leaves his kingdom behind to embark on a quest in search of enhanced powers and immortality. In doing so he studies with a Taoist Grand Master, or Patriarch who gives to him from his esoteric lore immense magical powers and abilities. Under the Taoist (Daoist) Sage he learns the Proteus-like shape-shifting power of "The 72 Transformations," the Secret of Immortality, invincible powers of combat through advanced Taoist Kung Fu and Martial Arts and the abiility of "Cloud-Hopping" which enables him in a single somersault to traverse one-hundred and eight thousand miles flying through the sky! He acquires a special weapon, an iron rod which is infinitely expandable and contractible, varying at his will from a chopstick carried behind his ear to an immense clubbing staff capable of subdoing giants and demons. He is the Great Sage's most adept student, finally attaining the status of Qitian Dasheng (齐天大圣)or "Great Sage Equal to Heaven." Yet for all these precocious powers, Sun Wukong remains an immature adolescent given to mischievous monkey-shines and without wisdom or enlightenment. Thus, the Taoist Patriarch, tired of his disorderly shenanigans, in the end banishes Wukong from the monestery telling he must seek his destiny elsewhere.
Sun Wukong then journeys to the Celestial Court of the Emperor of Heaven. But to his immense irritation he is only appointed as a menial in the heirarchy of heaven. Thereupon ensues one of the most famous episodes of the novel "Making Havoc in Heaven" in which Sun Wukong rebels, steals the Divine Nectar and Peaches of Heaven and sets himself at war with all of the divine forces of the Celestial Order who attempt but fail to apprehend and control him. But much to the Emperor of Heaven's chagrin, they are unable to control the Monkey-King's unprecedented magical powers and he remains at mischief. Here the Monkey-King joins in the Archetype of the Rebel Against the Gods, and the Trickster, in common with others of the Western heritage such as Prometheus and Milton's Satan. Like Prometheus he has misappropriated divine powers and prerogatives, such as invincibility and immortality. Prometheus, hero of Aeschulus'and Shelley's dramas "Prometheus Bound" and "Prometheus Unbound" is also a prodigy of intelligence and creative ability, a Titan who had aided Zeus in his own celestial Civil-War against Chronos and the old celestial order to become the King of the Greek gods, then audaciously misappropriated the power of fire and conferred it as a benefactor on man, also having had the hubris, emulating the God of Genesis, to create man from clay and endow life upon him, for which transgresions he was condemned to have his liver torn out daily by an eagle on a rock in Hades. Milton's Satan also rebelled against the divine order, but in his case by refusing to serve man, God's beloved creation, and enviously attempting to supplant Him in heaven. Sun Wukong also demands that he should replace the Emperor of Heaven as ruler of the heavenly order, resolving to war against him until he resigned. Nonetheless, the Monkey-King has none of Satan's propensity for pure Evil, but is rather compelled by his innocent adolescent pride and exuberance, egotism and native mischievousness.
His punishment thus, as a juvenile offender is commensurately less. Order is resatored when the Emperor of Heaven enlists an even higher authority and power in the Chinese pantheon, Buddha. Buddha intercedes in the celestial war by calling a parley with the Monkey-King, seeking to convince him or the error of his ways, proving to him the much higher merits of the Emperor to claim the Throne of Heaven. To resolve the impasse he proposes a wager to test Sun Wukong's powers. He extends his divine hand and bets the Monkey-King that with all his "Cloud-Hopping" magic he cannot even travel far enough to leave the palm of his hand, with the Throne of Heaven as the high stakes. Sun Wukong accepts the wager, confident he can travel to the ends of the Earth in a single somersault. He sets off flying through the sky until he comes to the end of the world where appear five pillars. To preserve the evidence of his feat he has the audacity to piss on the base of the central pillar and inscribe a graffiti: "The Great Sage Sun Wukong, Equal of Heaven, was here." Returning to Buddha he demands the throne. Buddha extends his hand and shows that the Monkey-King had never left its limits,showing how the graffiti was but inscribed on his middle finger and cursing the smell of the monkey-piss he had left between his fingers! Realizing his delusions of grandeur and his own smallness, Sun Wukong accepts defeat and departs. Later he is further punished for additional transgressions by having an iron band placed around his forehead and is sealed by Buddha beneath a great mountain for 500 years to contemplate his wrongdoing. It is at this point that Sun Wukong joins the Tang monk Xuanzang, as Guanyin, the "Buddhist Virgin Mary" in her mercy, arranges his release from confinement on condition that he do penance for his past errors by guiding and protecting Xuanzang on his mission to India to obtain the holy scriptures.
Each of the Pilgrim brothers also is recruited to perform the pilgrimage and quest an Act of Penance through guiding and protecting the Holy Monk Xuanzang on his holy mission to India. Pigsy, or Zhu Bajie, was formally the Commander of the Heavenly Naval Forces, but was banished to mortal life for his transgression in attempting to seduce the Moon Goddess, Chang'e. A reliable fighter, he is characterised by his insatiable appetites for food and sex, and is constantly looking for a way out of his duties, which causes significant conflict with Sun Wukong. Sandy, or Sha Wujing, was formerly a Celestial Court retainer, but was banished to mortal life for breaking a priceless crystal goblet of the Queen Mother of the West. He is a quiet but generally dependable character, who serves as the "straight man" foil to the comic relief of Sun and Zhu. The White Horse was formerly a Prince, who was sentenced to death for setting fire to his father's great pearl, but saved by the mercy of Guanyin.
The bulk of the novel is then the account of innumerable adventures of the pilgrim brothers, the Monkey-King, Pigsy, Sandy, Xuanzang and the White Horse on the high road to India. Each chapter or episode is generally a formulaic set-scene in which some shape-shifting demons, beasts or other opponents of the Pilgrims attempt to capture the Tang Monk. As devouring the Tang Monk can bring the demons immortality, they often seek to capture and eat him. His rescuer is generally the magically gifted Sun Wukong. The encounters are often grusome or action-packed with combat and Kung Fu, and many times humorous, as some demon-monster shape-shifts into the form of a beautiful seductress to entice the Tang Monk or Pigsy as part of their nefarious plot. It is generally the Monkey-King who sees through such disguises and adopts some hilarious counterstrategy. The episodes are always lively and entertaining, but as the novel progresses interest can flag as the formulaic situations repeat themselves. The repetition often comes from the original oral storytelling tradition of the saga, but also because Xuanzang must undergo the "81 Tribulations" which are requisite before one may attain Buddhahood.
At the end of the saga after fourteen years the Pilgrims successfully return to the Tang Court in China and establish a monestery for translating and publishing the holy sutras. Xuanzang and Sun Wukong attain Buddhahood, and Sandy becomes an Arhat, while the White Horse is delivered from his sentence. Pigsy, Zhu Bajie, because even his good deeds have always been tainted by his ulterior motives of greed and sexual desire, fails to attain the high state of his brothers, but is made an altar cleaner, priviliged to eat the leftover offerings at the temple.
The story of the Journey to the West is based on historical fact, albeit with considerable fantastic embellishment. In actual history the monk Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty (596-664 AD) did in fact journey to India to obtain sutras, the Buddhist holy scripture, to translate them into Chinese, publish and popularize them. The Chinese invention of printing was most probably an evolution from the previous Buddhist woodblock printing of India, associated with the spread of Buddhism in China, and the historical Xuanzang made a considerable contribution to the spread of literacy and printing in Chinese civilization. Like many other works such as the Faust tales and the Iliad and Odyssey, for centuries they were the subject of oral storytelers before being rendered in classical written form. It is thought that Wu Cheng'en the probable author of the classic novel in 1592, thus a contemporary of Shakespeare and Cervantes, adapted these rough oral tales passed on by professional storytellers into a consummately crafted novel. The star character, the Monkey-King, was based on the character Hanuman, the Monkey-King magician of the Indian classic, The Ramayana, of Valmiki, which probably circulated in the oral tales of itinerant storytellers into China, but which Wu Cheng'sn crafted into a magnificantly original creation. Although a Buddhist classic, the Journey to the West is largely free of religious didacticism and presents itself a a vivid and exciting narrative of adventure and fantasy.
The Journey to the West influenced the composition of my own latest work Spiritus Mundi, the contemporary and futurist epic of the modern world in several ways. First, in Book II, Spiritus Mundi, The Romance which is more mythically oriented, The Monkey-King appears as a character in aid of the Quest of the social activist heroes to save the world from WWIII by acquisition of the Sylmaril Crystal. Sun Wukong thus joins Goethe and the African God-Hero Ogun as counselors and aiders of the Quest on the journey through the Center of The Earth and their visit to the Temple of the Mothers on the Island of Omphalos where they may access the Cosmic Wormhole through Einsteinian Space-Time to visit the Council of the Immortals at the Black Hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Spiritus Mundi also shares the universal Archetype of the Quest with the Journey to the West, along with other works such as the Epic of Gilgmesh, The Divine Comedy of Dante, The Ramayana of Valmiki and the Aeneid of Vergil, as well as modern fantasy epics such as the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. It thus addresses the powerful forces of the universal Collective Unconscious transcending and uniting all human cultures and civilizations as delineated by the famous spiritual psychologist C.G.Jung and other literary and cultural critics such as Joseph Campbell in his work "The Hero With a Thousand Faces."
In conclusion, I would highly recommend that you take a look at The Journey to the West by Wu Chengen, as it is a work absolutely central to Chinese culture and to that of Southeast Asia. No educated person can live in and undersand the modern world, especially with the rise of China and Asia, without having some basic familiarity with this foundational Classic of Chinese and Asian culture. I also invite you to explore its themes and characters shared in the modern contemporary and futurist epic Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard.
For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:
For Discussions on World Literature and Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi:
http://worldliteratureandliterarycrit...
Robert Sheppard
Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author’s Blog:
http://robertalexandersheppard.wordpr...
Spiritus Mundi on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I:
http://www.amazon.com/Spiritus-Mundi-...
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGM8BZG
Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved -
!Attention, cette critique évoque l’œuvre entière, ce qui inclue donc les tomes 1, 3 et 4!
J'avais déjà lu ce livre auparavant, mais j'ai découvert que la version que je possédais à l'époque était une traduction tronquée. N'ayant de toute façon que peu de souvenirs de cette histoire, j'ai donc décidé de la relire, choisissant cette fois une traduction plutôt acclamée, car complète et agrémentée de notes explicatives.
Journey to the West raconte de façon romancée et fantastique le voyage historique du moine Xuanzang en Inde afin de récupérer les textes sacrés du bouddhisme. Surnommé Tripitaka dans le livre, ce moine effectue sa route en compagnie de trois monstres, devenus ses disciples suite à leur conversion à la religion par la Bodhisattva Guanyin.
Le premier, appelé Sun Wukong, est un singe qui a développé des pouvoirs tellement incroyables qu'il est célèbre pour avoir causé de nombreux dégâts au Ciel. Le deuxième, appelé Zhu Wuneng, est un cochon très enclin à la gourmandise et la luxure. Le troisième, appelé Sha Wujing, est un démon des sables toujours prêt à aider ses frères au combat. On peut noter aussi la présence d'un dragon ayant pris l'apparence d'un cheval pour transporter Tripitaka.
Le chemin vers les sutras étant long, le groupe subit donc de nombreuses attaques de monstres, chaque péripétie étant bien entendu une épreuve destinée à juger leur valeur.
Journey to the West est une œuvre plutôt conséquente, mais qui demeure néanmoins captivante. En tant qu'Occidentale, le récit s'avère très dépaysant, présentant une autre culture ainsi qu'une autre époque. Pour cela, les notes ont été d'une très grande utilité, car le texte est truffé de références à la mythologie et au folklore chinois. De même, la narration est très souvent interrompue par des poèmes, ce qui donne un petit aspect chanson de geste au récit. Toutefois, ces vers nous sont souvent signalés comme étant écrits sur des airs classiques chinois. Des éléments qui confèrent une atmosphère très particulière et fascinante à ce livre.
Toutefois, là où Journey to the West s'illustre, c'est dans son humour. Autant certaines aventures se classent dans un style épique, tombant parfois même dans le dramatique pour mieux accrocher l'attention du lecteur, autant la majorité des aventures donnent dans le comique, qu'il soit burlesque ou absurde. Il est très amusant de constater que certains passages ne détonneraient pas dans un épisode de Looney Tunes, alors que le texte date du XVIe siècle. Il est par ailleurs inutile de cacher que le groupe que l'on suit est très disparate, ce qui donne lieu à des petites querelles, mais également à des situations qui auraient pu être évitées si le dialogue sensé avait été choisi au lieu de l'impulsivité. Résultat, on se retrouve souvent à rire aux éclats au cours d'un chapitre.
Ces deux points permettent grandement de parer le plus gros défaut du livre, à savoir la répétitivité. Journey to the West est composé de cent chapitres, et pour respecter un nombre parfait, le groupe doit subir quatre-vingt-une épreuves. De ce fait, il semblerait qu'il était difficile de redoubler d'originalité sur la nature des embûches. De nombreuses aventures ont donc un schéma classique : Tripitaka se fait enlever par des monstres, ses disciples parviennent à le sauver, mais si la difficulté est trop importante, alors Sun Wukong se rend auprès d'une divinité afin de lui demander son aide. Heureusement donc que le récit parvient à rester divertissant, car cette redondance peut en rebuter plus d'un.
Finalement, Journey to the West est un monument de la littérature chinoise qui vaut le coup d'être lu. Malgré sa répétitivité, l’œuvre parvient à rester engageante jusqu'à la fin, et c'est un plaisir de s'immerger dans ce pan de culture.
Concernant la traduction, je me suis tournée vers cette version anglaise d'Anthony C. Yu que je recommande sans hésiter. En revanche, pour toute personne désirant tenter l'expérience en français, je conseillerais la traduction d'André Lévy. Elle n'est disponible malheureusement qu'en Pléiade, mais après quelques recherches, il semblerait que ce soit la seule version française complète et fidèle au texte d'origine. -
The retelling of Chinese researcher Xuanzang’s journey across Asia in search of authentic Buddhist scriptures continues in this second of four volume English translation by Yu. In this 100 chapter novel written a thousand years after the Xuanzang’s actual journey, the author, (generally held to be novelist and poet Wu Cheng'en) presents in prose and verse a fantastic and broadly comic tale in which Xuanzang becomes only a supporting character referred to by his title Tripitaka or as the Tang Monk, a rather timid fellow that needs to be repeatedly rescued from various monsters and demons by his disciples. Chief and eldest among these is an immortal Monkey, Sun Wukong from the Water-Curtain Cave in the Flower-Fruit Mountain, or as he later styles himself Great Sage Equal to Heaven, or after 500 years of penance pinned under a mountain for misdeeds made in heaven, Pilgrim Sun, or just old Monkey, he and two junior disciples Zhu Eight Rules and Sha Monk and even the horse are all recovering mischievous supernatural beings that are making their amends by escorting Tripitaka on his way west. They are prone to squabbling among themselves and their master, insulting each other and falling back into their old bad habits, until they remember their commitments, and band together for the common good and the Buddha. Filled with folklore and reference to both Taoism and Buddhism, the novel might be compared to its contemporary European counterpart the morality play if it were written by the likes of Christopher Marlowe but acted out as a skit by The Three Stooges, a profound and poetic slapstick comedy.
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I'm not built for this book
It's even more repetitive than Volume 1 because this volume is solely about all the monsters and troubles they face in this book, while Volume 1 has all the stuff about Sun Wukong wreaking havoc in Heaven (which I feel is the highlight of Journey to the West).
The structure of the book is very repetitive: basically they meet a monster every two chapters and then Sun Wukong has to defeat it somehow and Tripitaka is an idiot. I hate Tripitaka he's such a wimp and all he does is listen to Zhu Bajie's poor advice. And most chapters have poems describing the appearance of the monsters and then what the fights were like but it was getting boring for me.
I also was not intrigued by the cultural footnotes or other aspects of Chinese culture and history that this volume presents. Medieval Chinese classics are simply not my thing lol. But in all honesty the translation is still very good. I feel strongly that it accurately translates the spirit of the original and the translator is very faithful to explaining allusions or certain translation choices.
I will just read the first chapter of Volume 3 to finish off the cliffhanger in this volume and look for the mpreg chapter 🤪 hoping that will be funny!!1! -
Starting to get a bit repetitive, and its becoming obvious that each story needs to kind of be its own contained story...otherwise,
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Continuing their journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist Scriptures, Tripitaka and his followers come across the likes of deep river beasts and ravenous mountain deities, each eventually falling to the wit and power of the Monkey King and his allies. Cheng'en brings even more fantastical energy and beautiful poetry in this second quarter, passionately driven by its fascinating lore and exciting skirmishes of mythical proportions. Every mountain climbed and river crossed reveals a danger far greater than the last - can the Scriptures truly be reached in this lifetime?
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Review on Spanish.
Tripitaka debería apreciar más a su monito. Digo, cuando no puede salvarlo al menos se las arregla para traer a la diosa para que lo haga ella.
Ese cerdo rastrero y traidor, qué mal me está cayendo.
Y qué pinta Sha, a veces parece que estuviera ahí solo de decoración. Que no eres tan fuerte como el resto, pero al menos intenta hacer algo más seguido, ¿no?
También es culpa del resto que siempre lo dejan esperando y cuidando las cosas. -
Wow. Sikerült!
Kifejezetten tetszett. Mostanra már megszoktam a könyv és a történet menetét. Nyolctilalmast utálom.
Nagyobb mondani valóm nincs. A végén levő írás érdekes volt, bár így fáradtan nem sokat fogtam fel belőle. De érdekes volt és örülök, hogy benne van.