| Title | : | The Monkey and the Monk: An Abridgment of The Journey to the West |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0226971562 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780226971568 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 497 |
| Publication | : | First published November 1, 2006 |
These fantastic episodes recount the adventures of Xuanzang, a seventh-century monk who became one of China’s most illustrious religious heroes after traveling for sixteen years in search of Buddhist scriptures. Powerfully combining religious allegory with humor, fantasy, and satire, accounts of Xuanzang’s journey were passed down for a millennium before culminating in the sixteenth century with The Journey to the West. Now, readers of The Monkey and the Monk can experience the full force of his lengthy quest as he travels to India with four animal disciples, most significant among them a guardian-monkey known as “the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven.” Moreover, in its newly streamlined form, this acclaimed translation of a seminal work of world literature is sure to attract an entirely new following of students and fans.
“A new translation of a major literary text which totally supersedes the best existing version. . . . It establishes beyond contention the position of The Journey to the West in world literature, while at the same time throwing open wide the doors to interpretive study on the part of the English audience.”—Modern Language Notes, on the unabridged translation
The Monkey and the Monk: An Abridgment of The Journey to the West Reviews
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I can't help but feel so much is missing from this abridgement. The language is beautiful and the story flows pretty well. By far the best passages were at the beginning and the conclusion. The middle has too much of a simplified vibe to it. As an introduction to this very lengthy epic, it could certainly suffice. I'm certainly wanting to read this in the unabridged version. The English translations for the place names are incredibly rich in imagery. They make me eager to look them all up on maps, perhaps to even trace their journey to see each location they went to.
I'm certainly glad to have read it, love the heavy Buddhist references and certainly want to read more Buddhist literature. -
The Journey to the West is a fictionalized account of the Chinese Tang dynasty monk Xuanzang's journey to Central Asia and India to collect Buddhist texts, and is considered one of China's four great literary classics. It was first published in the 16th century and the authorship is still disputed.
The big question when reading this story in an English translation is whether to read Arthur Waley's heavily abridged version "Monkey", Anthony Yu's complete four-volume translation "The Journey to the West" or his abridgement of the same work titled "The Monkey and the Monk", which is the one I landed on. My reasoning for doing so is that 1. Waley's version is simply too heavily abridged and leaves out all of the verse and much of the dialogue. 2. Waley treats the story as pure entertainment and isn't sensitive to the religious allegory that permeates the whole work. 3. Yu's complete version is over two thousand pages long and you might not want to invest that heavily in a work you still don't know if you'll enjoy.
Yu's abridged version on the other hand is a decent compromise between reading Waley's version and reading the complete version - but it's not perfect. In my opinion a good abridgement is one that shortens the length of a novel while making sure the reader never feels like he's missing parts of the story and that is where this version fails to satisfy. Instead of aiming for a seamless experience Yu puts in a footnote whenever the book refers to an event that isn't in the abridged version, and there is even one chapter that starts off in the middle of a conflict between the main character and one of his followers while the previous chapter where this conflict arose is merely summarized in a footnote. Seeing as this is only a problem in a few instances however I can't help but think the abridgement would have been better off with a hundred or so pages more. -
First off: I'm really glad this was an abridgment-- the 100-chapter, four-volume complete story sounds utterly overwhelming. I've read long books, and I've read the entire Harry Potter series multiple times, but classic books are at time more difficult to digest than modern novels.
Secondly, remember that this story is hundreds of years old. Some of the story-telling styles are old-school. If you've read other ancient books and stories, you might know what I mean. It's not organized the way a modern story might be, and while it is entertaining, it had its own religious goals as well. But don't forget to enjoy the ridiculous antics the characters often take part in.
This leads me to my next point: it helped me to have some background knowledge before reading this book. While the translator/editor of this book adds a few footnotes, it doesn't explain the basics. To enjoy this story more, I would recommend attaining a little background knowledge of Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and ancient China. But no worries on becoming an expert! This is still an enjoyable story, at times adventurous and at times hilarious. I had to look up some things such as "what does 'kowtow' mean?" and "what are the eight trigrams?" and the like. But as I familiarized myself with this book and its contents, I began to understand some of the references to it. For example, I discovered that many animes draw on mythologies, including this story. Goku in Dragon Ball is based on the monkey of this book, as is a tailed beast in Naruto. Other references (especially in anime, but not exclusively) came not directly from this book, but from religious characters/items/stories/etc. mentioned in this book. I feel like I learned a lot both in reading this book and seeking to understand not only the story itself, but the background that goes into it. -
that was the most wild ride… idk what i liked better, when the monk and the hog-man got pregnant so they went to the abortion stream, when they told the daoists their piss was holy water so they would drink it, or when they finally became buddhas (poor bajie tho LMAO). probably the last one because woooo they made it wooooo but the other two were good times too
story is honestly really good and entertaining and understandably a classical masterpiece, just not really into the repetitive way it was written here (thus four and not five) -
Too much repetition.
Too much poetry.
The author used different names for the same characters and confused at times.
This book could be reduced to half.
I began this because my ex flatmate had recommended. I finished because one must finish what they begin.
I got bored reading the book. I read it at ×4 speed and would have read at ×6 speed to finish it faster.
I liked only a few stories in them! -
The preferred abridged translation (to Waley's) of the classic featuring Monkey King. Really a wonderful Buddhist parable of Everyman's journey for enlightenment with fantastical characters allegorically representing aspects of the human (Monkey = mind, Pigsy = appetites, Monk = soul, etc). Prof. Yu put a lifetime of erudition and enthusiasm into this translation and the English speaking world is all the richer for that.
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one of the greatest epics which came from china. amazing
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Three stars for an abridgment of one of the greatest traditional Chinese novels might strike some as surprisingly low. Two caveats: first, I believe this novel to be a work of the highest significance and fully worthy to be considered alongside its contemporary Western counterpart "Don Quixote;" second, the late Anthony Yu's full translation, "Journey to the West," published in four volumes is a brilliant work and fully deserves the praise it has received. But the work being reviewed here is an abridgment, and must be judged as such, and as an abridgment it is problematic. Anyone who presents an abridgment of this long and complex novel obviously does it against the background of Arthur Waley's widely read "Monkey," published originally in 1942. Waley knits the longer novel into a coherent and frolicking abridgment that emphasizes, perhaps overemphasizes, the "fun" of the novel at the expense of it more serious and problematic religious content. But, those who read Waley's version at least usually come away satisfied, even if the satisfaction comes as much or more from Waley than Wu Cheng'en, if the latter was indeed the author of the original. Anthony Yu is truer to the original but his abridgment, it seems to me, is a bit lazy. He has simply extracted thirty-one of the novel's original one hundred chapters and pieced them together with only one or two notes clarifying internal references to what has been left out. And his selections, I think, are problematic. The first fifteen chapters of the original are all included in the abridgment, which great foreshortens and diminishes the journey itself--only sixteen of the final eighty-five chapters are included. Yes, Yu's abridgment does give a much better notion of the religious content of the original, including, for example, the Heart Sutra (pp272-73), so important for understanding this novel, but the overall arc of Wu Cheng'en's work is more-or-less lost.
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I actually came to read this book through the K-drama A Korean Odyssey, which was very loosely based upon it. Overall, I would say it presents an interesting allegory in a fantasy setting, with plenty of humour along the way. On the whole, this abridgement moved at a decent pace, with only a few moments that dragged; however, I'm not sure how I'd feel about reading the full four volumes. I think you'd have to be very dedicated for that! But there is still plenty to enjoy in this abridged version, and I particularly liked coming across moments in which I could see where the TV series had borrowed ideas. I don't know Chinese to compare, but the translation read smoothly, and there were notes here and there to explain difficult-to-translate concepts. This was my first time reading a Chinese classic, and on the strength of this piece, I would read more in the future. It gets four stars from me.
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The basic style reminded me of Pilgrim's Progress (which was filled with metaphors), but from an eastern Buddhist/Dao/Confucian perspective and it was much funnier and more enjoyable to read.
Based on an actual pilgrimage from Tang China to India around 600 CE to pick up Buddhist scriptures, but this story is greatly elaborated with demons and people who come back to life and other fantastical events. The monkey causes problems and is often hyperactive and monkey-minded.
Sometimes is repetitious. Also has many, many, many poems: a poem to mark every event. I was glad to read this abridged version and do not intend to read the longer version because it might be even more repetitious with many more poems. -
Well, this was fun.
I was hesitant to start any translation of the Journey to the West due to the sheer size so this abridgment was nice to see if I can actually tackle the 100 chapters story now that I have an idea of what to expect.
I can see why some people might dislike the style but personally, I like it. Also it's hilarious to imagine a small monkey just beating up every enemy and just carrying the whole team described in this style. Dear Great Sage, indeed. -
There are 2 ways to read this book. The first is to look up every God, legendary part of Heaven and Hell, every story and myth that you come across in Wikipedia (or other websites) and by doing this try to fill in the gaps of your knowledge of Chinese religious myth. The second approach is to just read the names, let them go right over your head and try to get some enjoyment from the narrative.
After 5 pages, I switched to the second strategy.
There’s a lot to say about this book as it is many things. It’s a comedy and a quest story sprinkled with Daoist, Confuscian and (Chinese) Buddhist philosophy. You could call it the Chinese version of
The Odyssey but the main hero (the monkey) is somewhat of an anti-hero. Spiritual doctrines and philosophy are interwoven throughout the story. For a western reader, it provides glimpse into the complexity and intermingled nature of the 3 religions of China.
The main insight I gained was that Daioist Gods and their domains and the different levels of Heaven and Hell are probably a mirror, maybe even a parody, of the bureaucratic nature of the Chinese imperial system that these stories evolved alongside.
The version I read was abridged which can be frustrating when it jumps from Chapter 17 to Chapter 34. It would have been nice if they had summarized the other chapters. Also, the footnotes are helpful but there could be more... -
This is an epic tale, however the battles and misadventures seem to drag on, and it proved to not be so enjoyable a read for me. I enjoyed the verse portions, and of course the Buddhism/Confucianism/Daoism elements. I read for an Asian Lit class, and I appreciate having read it, as it is an influential work in that category. So there's that.
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finally finished this book for chinese literature class! now, onto the midterm essay :’) tbh, i would probably enjoy this book a bit more if i didn’t have on my i-have-to-analyze-everything mindset and the time crunch. and because this is an abridged version, i felt that the absence of other (80+ chapters) caused character developments to be quite abrupt.
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read for class
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Very interesting!
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Thicc, and comprehensive
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Clear and concise version of Journey to the West.
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Love Journey to the West. The Yu abridgment/translation really focuses a lot on the Buddhist elements of the story, which I appreciate. The poetry sections struck me as superfluous.
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Reading this book felt like traveling on an enjoyable journey in which I found myself surprised at every turn. I would give this book five stars simply for the massive amount of work in translation done by Anthony C. Yu. On the back of my copy there is a quote from the New York Times Book Review which calls it "one of the great ventures of our time in humanistic translation and publication." I would have to agree! Particularly with the amount of poetry that is in the text, the translation is a work of art.
The story itself is fun and quirky. From the meteoric rise, humorous escapades, and swift fall of the Monkey King, to the Tang Emperor's journey through the underworld, to the story of Xuanzang's parents, birth, and eventual commission to seek the Buddhist scriptures from the West, this abridgment contains all of the opening chapters that are important for setting up the central odyssey. After the monk leaves for the West, things start to speed up, as the team of spiritual reprobates seeking redemption is assembled (comprised of a monkey, a half-pig half-human, a dragon-horse, and a sand-spirit-man), and a few of their most notable adventures are related. The book ends (spoiler) with the monk receiving the 5,048 canonical scriptures from the Buddha, taking them back to the Tang Emperor, and finally with the five main characters being appointed to immortality themselves by the Buddha after their journey of 5,048 days and all the perils and difficulties they faced on their long journey.
The aspects of the story that I found difficult and sometimes painful - some of the overt sexism, for example - felt less like a flaw in the story itself than an accurate portrayal of the historical culture in which this book was written, which was inherently patriarchal and strictly hierarchical. On a more positive note, I think that this is probably one of the only books I have read which would fall completely outside the "Western" European tradition or sphere of direct colonial influence, and there were plenty of subtle differences which were fun to notice. Rather than chapter titles, for example, there are short two-verse poems which both reveal and shroud the events of the chapter with poetic symbolism, and throughout each chapter are scattered numerous poems, interspersed with the prose (more than 1,700 total by the count of the translator), something which I cannot recall a direct parallel for, other than perhaps Tolkien in the Lord of the Rings.
All in all it was an enjoyable read, and I appreciated the mixture of religion, mythology, travelogue, fantasy, and the extensive descriptions of food and nature. Not the easiest book to get through (even in the abridged version, which runs to almost 500 pages), but well worth the time! -
Rating of 2,5 stars.
First off, for anyone who loves classic storytelling methods and poetry interwoven with their text, even after 500 pages of text, then this book is right up there for you. You will probably enjoy it more than I would have.
I picked this book up for the single reason that the Monkey Kong, also known as Sun Wukong was in this book and in a way, he is the main character in many ways. This book obviously has many layers of symbolism scattered around its poems and many descriptive sentences, from the spiritual terms and Buddhistic mantras.
The book was in some parts really intriguing. Especially the first 100-150 pages which described Sun's origin story was interesting and the parts of when the journey started halfway through the book were also kinda interesting. Overall the stories were kinda episodic and the story was sometimes even tedious, but that's in the mastery of literature long-gone.
The book is a slow read, that's for sure. I recommend this book especially to people who are interested in Sun Wukong, in Chinese literature or just worldly stories in general. For me, this wasn't my favorite book but I can't deny that it is a masterwork of China and I respect the time I have given to this book as a time to learn something more about culture. -
To my delight this book just arrived through interlibrary loan last night and I started it before bed. Love this book for its language and dis-similarity to anything I've read. Listen to this... "Near a great ocean, in the midst of which was located the famous Flower-Fruit Moutnain. This mountain, which consistuted the chief range of the Ten Islets and formed the origin of the Three Islands, came into being after the creation of the world.
Then it continues having set the stage....
Its majesty commands the wide ocean;
Its splendor rules the jasper sea;
Its majesty commands the wide ocean
When, like silver mountains, the tides sweeps fishes into caves;
Its splendor rules the jasper sea
When snowlike billows send forth serpents from the deep.
Can't you just imagine this far away place...the place of how this culture tells the tale of creation? It's just so cool. -
The story is based on the pilgrimage of a Chinese priest to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures. The journey lasted about 17 years. It was probably written in the late 1500's. 'The Monkey and the Monk' is an English abridgment of the 4-volume 'The Journey to the West,' which is considered to be a classic among Chinese literature.
I decided to read this after watching a DVD take off of it called 'The Lost Empire' which I enjoyed a bunch. It was an adventure story of a current day scripture scholar who goes on a mission to save the text 'Journey to the West,' save the world from evil and demons, and learn to become a noble warrior. Thomas Gibson, Bai Ling and Russell Wong were in it. -
I'm glad that I got the abridgement rather than the full-on, 4 volume 100 chapter edition. Though a very enjoyable story (laugh out loud funny at times), it is RAMBLING in the extreme. And there are many passages filled with repetitive information (IE, an event will happen, then a character will relate the events to another almost word for word, etc).
All that being said, if you're a fan of world mythology (or indeed, Dragonball) you owe it to yourself to travel west with Old Monkey and his gang of scripture pilgrims. -
After hearing about The Monkey King for several years, I decided to find a good English translation of this old Chinese Novel. This one seemed to get the best reviews, and while it is heavily abridged, I found it enjoyable and very readable. Good introduction to the story. There is a 4 volume translation of the entire 100 chapter Novel that I'll pass on for now.
