Monkey King: Journey to the West by Wu Chengen

Monkey King: Journey to the West Reviews

• 
  Charlie Corn

  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.
• 
  Inkspill

  Reading this was like watching a buddy movie of mismatched friends on a quest for immortality.
  
  What made this a fun read was the comedy, mostly supplied by Monkey. Monkey is an exuberant mischievous character whose self-assuredness hides his caring heart. Pigsy also contributed to the comedy by always trying to get Monkey into trouble with Tripitaka, a monk whom they are safeguarding from demons on their travels to collect Buddhist scriptures to bring back to China - which they learn later is 108 000 miles one way.
  
  Out of the four, Sandy is the quietest – but when he speaks it is usually with perception the others lack. The story is also lightly interspersed with Taoism and Buddhism with hints of cultural attitudes and expectations.
  
  I would have never guessed that this was written in the 1590s. The translation in this penguin ed by Julia Lovell is so easy that there was no need for me to look up anything; not one time did I have to search my kindle for more information, or look things up on Wikipedia. All that was required for me to do was to just sit back and enjoy – which I did. This was a very entertaining read.
• 
  Canon

  "I am the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, you know," explained Monkey. "The party won't be the same without me," (51).
  
  This is the newest English translation of Journey to the West, a 16th century fantasy epic regarded as one of the Four Classic Novels of Chinese literature (along with
  The Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong,
  The Water Margin (aka Outlaws of the Marsh) by Shi Nai'an, and
  Dream of the Red Chamber (aka Story of the Stone) by Cao Xueqin). Despite the fatuousness of Neil Gaiman's remark that it's "in the DNA of 1.5 billion people," this book is, as Lovell shows in her introduction, incredibly influential and famous. And it's a blast.
  
  Before finding this version, I tried out Arthur Waley's venerable 1942 abridged translation, but was annoyed by what I thought of as Waley's Wodehousian frippery. This translation is also abridged (roughly the same length as Waley's, at about a quarter of the original), and also has a distinctive tone — but a snazzy contemporary one that I enjoyed much more. Lovell (a professor of Modern Chinese History and Literature at Birkbeck, University of London) drops in modern idioms like "cashless economy" and "social networking" to great effect, and delivers an all-around exciting, fast-paced, hilarious, and at times beautiful rendition of this epic. As for unabridged English translations, I've read that one can't do better than Anthony C. Yu's scholarly 4-volume
  set, and I enjoyed this so much that I plan to read the full thing at some point (and who knows, maybe some of it in Chinese?)...
  
  
  
  
  Also, I absolutely had this album playing in my head as a soundtrack to Monkey & Co.'s adventures:
  The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers by YĪN YĪN.
• 
  Spencer Orey

  This was so fun. For a story this old it’s a delight to read, thanks to the new translation and editing involved in that. It’s exuberant and made me laugh a lot. Some of the episodic adventures were meandering, but even those almost always made me laugh. And it’s hard to worry about flaws when the legendary kung fu monkey with hilarious omnipotent powers is up to his mischief.
• 
  Kaska

  Wow. I have learnt so much from this book! Here are some examples:
  - You can bypass oceans by travelling thousands of miles in a single cloud somersault - but you cannot bypass the immigration office
  - Bureaucracy does not end with death - it just gets started
  - Abortion on men is ok
  - Pissing on Buddha's palm can give you a sentence of 500 years
  - Systematic beating bad guys to a gory pulp won't stop you from achieving Buddahood - uncontrolled gorging on rice will
  - Participating in a holy mission may involve starring in a demonic family soap opera
  - Buddha does not approve bribery - but he approves that the staff in his HQ does
  - Completing an epic pilgrimage in the real world can make you famous but, once it becomes a myth, don't be surprised that the animal sidekick you never had becomes the protagonist
  - Nepal, Tibet and India can be quite entertaining but China is the greatest and throws the best parties
  - What Bureau of Rice Reincarnation is
  - And much more but don't want to take that pleasure from you!
  
  I stumbled upon this 16th-century Chinese classic out of curiosity because I found out that the Dragon Ball was based on it. Shame on me, I thought the novel will be slightly outdated, serious and slower than Toriyama's manga. On the contrary - it is extremely funny and action-packed, the duels are fast-paced and ingenious, unlike some of the neverending Dragon Ball fights.
  
  I don't know what the unabridged version looks like but this translation is fantastic, especially as an audiobook read by Kevin Shen.
  
  I AM... MONKEY! You didn't like the book? EAT MY STAFF!
• 
  Chris Durston

  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.
• 
  Alexander Boyd

  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.
• 
  Jenvile

  ”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 in her acknowledgment that she understands 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.
• 
  Louis Armitage

  A breath of fresh air.
  
  I haven’t read such an entertaining novel in a long long time. Little did I expect such amusement to originate from a 16th century Ming dynasty classic.
  
  From the characters to the world-building, Lovell’s comical, yet respectful translation of Journey to the West is a modern masterpiece.
  
  Rife with slapstick humour and absurdities of every kind, this novel will make you chuckle consistently within each chapter.
  
  The best way I can describe the emotions Monkey King derives out of the reader is that it is reminiscent of the absurdities of childhood stories in a nostalgic way.
  
  Through this mischievous satire of a Buddhist pilgrimage, Wu Cheng’en critiques tyrannical hierarchies, authority and the human condition alongside highlighting the advantages of pluralism in one broad sweep.
  
  Julia Lovell has produced an extremely witty translation - ripe with a satisfying blend of prose and informal modern language that elegantly subsumes the Classical Chinese.
  
  This whimsical Chinese Classic is truly a tale of epic proportions.
• 
  Malum

  An anthropomorphic monkey superhero pisses on (and in) anything and everything he can. The world had been trying to find spiritual significance in this for 500 years. People are strange.
• 
  Brett Glasscock

  a 16th century buddhist buddy comedy
• 
  Dylan Kakoulli

  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!
• 
  Horace Derwent

  newly translated by china expert, julia lovell, cool
  
  actually it's just not about a monkey, it's about an eminent monk(a dignitary buddhist) and his three disciples, and the journey they went to ancient india for obtaining buddhist scriptures
• 
  Diana Liu

  Obviously one of the most important stories of my childhood and young adulthood, and one of the most important stories for an entire people, but this translation didn’t spark joy for me. The characters didn’t come across as dynamic and larger than life as they are - perhaps it was the abridging at work (Zhu Bajie and even Tang Seng are barely present, and those are just numbers 2 & 3 of a main party of 4 pilgrims, let alone more minor and yet still memorable characters), perhaps it was the lens in which it was attempted (“my hope throughout has been to communicate to contemporary English readers…”) which is well-intentioned but through the process itself inevitably distorts or drops cultural nuances - a necessary evil, the translator would say. It’s a better effort than its cringeworthy Penguin blurb - “a Chinese Lord of the Rings” - which foreshadows perhaps the overall project trying too hard to assimilate Xi You Ji into the “21st century Anglophone world” or at least sell books into that market - but I would have much preferred that there wasn’t any dumbing down at all, however well-meaning the translator. I was excited for this new, glossy, marketed translation with the cover that instantly caught my eye - I’m not against the concept in general, especially as the work itself has been endlessly adapted and retold through China’s history. My issue is that much of the magic and color and texture and richness of the text was lost in the rush and simplification. And is it controversial to say that I would like to read an English-language translation by a culturally Chinese writer, to identify what might be preserved? (Anthony Yu’s unabridged translation, up next for me - )
  
  This is not to say I didn’t get anything out of Lovell. There is much interesting historical background in the Introduction, and something I wasn’t so aware of as a youth is how humorously bureaucratic are the “divine administrators” with their ledgers of death and orders for rain. And I may be grouchy because I didn’t recognize my childhood companions in these pages (not the same, but for an analogue search Russian Winnie the Pooh on YouTube to see what I mean - the tone/flavor is so dramatically different, even if the plot is the same - or imagine seeing Disney’s Winnie the Pooh after growing up on the books exclusively), but Lovell had a challenging task, she admires the source material, and if she inspires anyone to open his mind to a new cultural experience, then I cannot begrudge her too much.
  
• 
  Jesse Field

  There seem to be two entries for this volume, with more people commenting on
  Monkey King: Journey to the West, but that has no cover image and doesn't list
  Gene Luen Yang as a contributor to the prologue, which is quite a smart personal history of what the Monkey story meant for him, as a Chinese-American.
  
  We used this in our tenth grade curriculum this past unit, and I think it was as big a hit with faculty as with students. I originally planned to use
  Monkey: The Journey to the West, translated by Arthur Waley, and that is still a wonderful book in its own right, but Lovell's new editions proves the value of new translations of classic works. There is a short, but rich introduction to the novel, describing the shadow early medieval origins of the plot-line, the heterogenous structure of the novel, and its long reception going up to the present day -- Communist leaders loved the Monkey role as a symbol of revolution, for example.
  
  It's very funny how much verve and pep appears in this translation. Some of it is the verbal acuity:
  

  
  “Don’t be so tetchy, Monkey,” a chorus of voices called from above. “And do stop blubbing, Tripitaka..."
  孙大圣莫恼，唐御弟休哭。
  

  
  Here, "tetchy" and "blubbing" are arguably more precise and colorful than the original Chinese terms, nao and ku, which could be rendered as 'be upset' and 'cry.' This is a great lesson: pumping up acuity can intensify the tones intended in the original. But it's quite tricky to do. Especially, I would think, when the tone is comic, as here. But Lovell has somehow produced a new version that is fun, first and foremost, yet without sacrificing quality.
  
  Lovell's new text is an instant classic, in my opinion. Granted, 2021 had a lot of good novels, and even a lot of good translations, and this text was noted in the mainstream press, but I have a feeling its reputation stands to grow with time -- a lot.
  
  
• 
  Joshua

  Although my knowledge of Chinese literature is sparse, when I think about why this book is considered one of greatest classical Chinese novels, a few reasons stand out.
  
  1) The amount of characters is ridiculous and yet, I was still able to keep track and I actually looked forward to who else would appear - which segues nicely into my second reason.
  
  2) The descriptions are so vivid that I could imagine what every character, setting or disaster looked like and that is mainly because
  
  3) The world is alive. What I mean by this is that the rules, laws and procedures that take place in this story are so consistent that it feels like, if I mapped it all out, it all seems very believable. Considering the title of the story, I was under the impression that the whole story would just be about the journey but that isn't the case. The reader learns about the circumstances that brought the main characters together and even when the actual plot gets going, there are many call-backs to remind the reader that although these are our protagonists, the rest of the world is still moving along.
  
  4) It's genuinely funny. You quickly learn the personality types of the characters but that worked to its benefit as whenever they came across a situation - and they come across A LOT - it was entertaining to see their personalities shine. Also, the prose was a mixture of idioms and colloquialisms from our time and age and grandiose, formal words that struck a nice balance of light-heartedness and flow. Reading this was easy and enjoyable.
  
  5) And yet, at times the story is serious, life lessons, social and political commentary through satire or just allegories that acted like punches in the face. All of this coupled with characters that although had their personality types, grew along the journey and made the reading experience worthwhile.
  
  6) Finally and perhaps most importantly to me, it's just great fantasy. The things that happen in this book are on celestial levels and yet it happens so often that it adds to the aforementioned comedy and vividness. It's described so well and in your face that you quickly accept, enjoy and look forward to it.
  
  Being able to do all of this is testament to how great the original novel is and how appreciative Julia Lovell's translation was. Despite not reading a large amount of Chinese novels, it's no surprise that this is considered a classic.
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  Nilesh Jasani

  In far many more ways than intended, Monkey King is a bizarre read. It is entertaining and informative of the value systems of the era in an equal measure.
  
  The army of monsters and demons, or even Monkey's superpowers, is more out of ancient Indian fables involving Hindu gods, but not how battles are fought and won. There is not much room for compassion, for instance. While there is humor and satire aplenty, there is little spirituality or even attempts at deeper life meanings.
  
  The reverence for authorities and the descriptions of bureaucracy are uniquely Chinese. The transactional nature of interactions, including in the most extraordinary conversations with Buddha that permeates the story, is joyful initially but becomes grating as the story progresses. One gets a unique insight through the portrayed frictions between the disciples of Daoism and Buddhism. It goes against the conventional wisdom of these two paths' coexistence and mutually compatible natures.
  
  Written texts have always held the highest importance in Chinese culture. The westward journey never wavered from it being a quest to secure the sutras and scriptures - something all Indian religions would consign to a far lower place to learning spirituality through meditation and spiritual/ascetic experiences. The most unbelievable parts of the book are not Monkey's extraordinary powers but the way its medieval author(s) perceived the path to attaining Buddhahood.
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  Rebekah May

  I have had Journey to the West in the back of my mind for a few years so when I saw this beautiful, abridged, newly translated edition in Waterstones I decided to pick it up.
  
  This novel is so much fun to read. I'm kind of sad this is an abridged version because I loved the translation so much, and I think that is why I enjoyed this as much as I did. The actual content of the book is a great fantasy novel and I really enjoyed both the first part about Monkey and the second part about the actual journey. It is compared to The Canterbury Tales on the little sleeve I got with it, which I haven't read but definitely want to bump up my tbr now if this is true! I would say this is mostly just the conflicts that the party has due to it being an abridged version but I kind of loved that I was hopping from fight to fight, especially as I spent so long with this one.
  
  As mentioned, though, I think the translation is really clever. Now, this is an old book. Usually, in translating and updating old books, people update the language used and modernise it. Usually, I don't like this. In this, though, it worked so well and it was so subtle. It really makes the humour shine.
  
  I would definitely recommend this translation of the book, though I haven't read any others so can't compare it. I really enjoyed it, though!
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  Chelsey Saatkamp

  "Revenge first, long-term life plans second."
  
  This is a recent translation and abridgement of one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels (and arguably its most popular).
  
  I can see why Sun Wukong is so revered!! Following the tales of a super-powerful immortal monkey with no respect for authority, the long-journey shenanigans reminded me a bit of “The Odyssey” mixed with the satire of “The Canterbury Tales.” Mostly I just want to play a video game of Monkey and the gang's epic quest.
  
  I don't know how much of the titling of landmarks, demons, and deities was Lovell's translation, but I love her interpretations. Monstrous King of Chaos...name a more iconic D&D villain.
  
  The description of China's Eighteen-Story Hell...incredible. All kinds of torture techniques, but arguably the scariest is the misplacement of your records. Hope you don't get accidentally assigned to the wrong spot or reincarnated as a monster!
  
  "The only thing that will end the pregnancy is water from Abortion Spring, inside Child-Destroying Cave on Dissolving-Maleness Mountain." These poor men accidentally get pregnant and instantly want to die. This book was ahead of its time.
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  Sam P

  I am in love with this story. This translation is one of my favourite books now. It honestly had no right to be as funny as it did. I even enjoyed reading the introduction! My one complaint is that there isn't more of it; a fair number of adventures were abridged and brushed over. I first thought this was a positive -- the original text is a lot longer -- since it meant it wouldn't be such a big time investment. But it turned out to be so readable and fun that I would have gladly taken a 1000 page version. I might actually grab another, more complete translation though I'm not sure how it'll compare to the translation style of Julia Lovell.
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  Ann

  Lol this took me a while to finish. It was our book club read last year and I put it down because the adventures became samey after a while and Monkey could get annoying, hahaha, I'm such an auntie.
  But perhaps I was meant to finish it in Bali, where, in 2019, I watched a lovely play with Hanuman as lead. It's very readable despite being a classic and the funniest parts were about bureaucracy in Heaven.
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  Rik Pulles

  Absolute master piece. The Immortal Sun Wukong is the truely the greatest creature that has ever existed in fiction. The whole story is an unbelievable rollercoaster. It is definitely one of the most absurd books I have ever read. Maybe that is also why I liked it tremendously. Even Sisyphos can’t tip Monkey’s act of defying the Jade Emperor of Heaven.
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  Garrett

  Who am I to write a review of a collection of 600 year old Chinese fairytales? This edition, with notes about the translation and a great introduction, and with its updated language, is accessible, fun, and despite what Goodreads thinks, I read this over the course of a week or so, in enjoyable chunks, probably more like what was intended. I recommend this to anyone who'd like a grounding in Chinese myth or culture that they don't already have.
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  Andy Klein

  An entertaining series of tales. It’s hard to believe this was written in the 16th century and that it is not widely known in the west.
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  Jordan Almodovar

  that monkey, man is he always up to no good
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  Bones

  Una historia de aventura que luego de un rato se volvió simplemente Son Wukong salvando al resto porque eran tontos y se metían en problemas. Ahora imaginen 300 páginas de eso, pero acompañado con un personaje (el monje) que está ahí solo para hacer comentarios inútiles y estorbar, y llorar.