Journey to the West / Monkey / Hsi Yu Chi by Wu Ch'eng-en

[Ryan Fenton]

Wu Ch'eng-en's version of Journey to the West, written in the 1500's, should definetly be considered public domain, I'd believe. If anyone could post a translation up here, it would be great. That one story is the basis for much of the eastern stories we see in Anime, Manga and other things. It's definetly a classic that should be in any classic literature collections - and I'm amazed I haven't been able to find it anywhere on the web.

:^)

Ryan Fenton

[Gomeisa]

I love this great Chinese work. We were familiar with the stories before we read the book. Even now in China, especially in the rural areas, both adults and children are fascinated by the Monkey King, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong.

Whether the book was written by Wu Cheng'en remains a doubt. In my opinion its authorship goes to a fmous Taoist, Qiu Chuji of Ming Dynasty.

Does anyone have an electronic copy of this book (in English)? I have several volumes of different edition in chinese. And I want to better my English through reading an English one.

Isaac

[Edmond]

Without "The Journey to the west" this website is hardly a website, on the other hand, with "The Journey to the west", this website will attract even more viewers.

[subterranean]

i havent read the book version, but i watched the movie series..several times. awesome!

[amuse]

um...what is it about? is it a compilation of sorts?

[Yuen]

OMG of course not! It's the story of four pilgrims who go to the West to fetch back some Buddhist scriptures, battling demons and monsters along the way.

Sorry, I don't have any translations, but I do have in-depth information about Journey to the West, like character profiles, author information, a summary, history and origins, that kind of thing. XD

And, by the way, Qiu Chu Ji is definitely NOT the author. First of all, the theory that Qui Chu Ji is the author was based on a misunderstanding - the list that stated Qiu Chu Ji as the author of 'Journey to the West' was in fact referring to another work by the same name, and not the novel Journey to the West. Besides, Xiyouji contains lots of colloquial expressions and terms used only in Huai An, Wu Cheng En's birthplace,
whereas there is no evidence of Qiu Chu Ji ever being in Huai An.

[s_fenella]

I am writing my research paper on Monkey King. What are some of the issues that i can argue or talk about for my 9 page paper??

[europeanlibrary]

A tip: if you are looking for a library copy of 'Journey to the West' try theeuropeanlibrary.org (this is a public site, thus free)

It tells you what versions are stored in Europe's national libraries. I found among others, 14 hits from Finland, 7 from Holland, etc.etc.

[jjrangiawha]

Howdy, I've only read the first two chapters and I can't wait to sink my teeth into the rest of Journey to the West.

Interesting style of writing.

First, there's the narrative that follows the story of a stone monkey born from a magic stone on top of a mountain.

The narrative then switches over to poetic form (I suppose in places where the author wants the reader to take particular interest.)

Can't wait to get back to reading it.

[Extra question for all you Chinese Lit. philosophers out there.]

In two specific places, when the Handsome Monkey King faced a dilemma while searching for 'The Way' unlikely characters supply him with insight to continue his journey.

Might this suggest that the author is hinting that for true seekers of 'The Way', no matter how lost you get a guiding hand will be supplied to those who seek the path to enlightenment.

Either that, or I'm a complete idiot.

I wonder how many people will reply to this posting with two words:

Complete Idiot

[Il Penseroso]

Wow, this is interesting. My mom used to read me this as a little kid, the Arthur Waley translation. I still have the copy, something I planned on picking up to read again (I really don't remember anything about it). I'll try to come back to post my thoughts when I get around to it, right now my 'to read' list is a bit over-extended.

[airun_71]

Hello everybody,
here's a link to an e-book version of the novel in English, enjoy!

chine-informations.com/fichiers/jourwest.pdf