Customer Reviews

The Monkey and the Monk: An Abridgment of The Journey to the West

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love 'Journey to the West' - the story is China's version of 'The Canterbury Tales', and the tales found within are both seminal works of Chinese literature and rewarding reads in and of themselves. For this particular edition, Anthony Yu does a good job of translating into English: the prose text is very readable, and Yu's footnotes provide a lot of help on obscure references to Chinese superstitions and Buddhist heritage. The translations of the poems are somewhat less satisfying, and I found myself frequently skipping over them to read just the prose storyline. My main complaint is with the books Yu decides to include here: out of the 100 chapters of the full edition, Yu includes only the 31 chapters that are crucial to the plotline. As a result, you get the barebones story, but some of the best-written and most comical subplots are left out. All in all, though, a pretty good read, especially for anyone looking for the middle ground between the comic book versions and the full 4-volume 100-chapter text.

This is the best translation you will find Anthony C Yu has really made this book shine, it displays all that only people who can read Chinese could only know until now ,previous books in English on the monkey king have been dry and lacking in spirit this book is beautifully descriptive and spiritually deep at the same time,but don't let the word spiritual throw you off this book is full of adventure and excitement, not a boring moment to be found. .P.S. this is the abridged version of the 3 volume full version.I usually don't bother with abridged books but got this one to read to my [...]son,not only does my son love this,but I love just as much as the whole set

TMatM tells a story that happens to be one of the most well-known tales in Asia: "The Monkey King's Journey to the West".

The story is profound and funny - and very different from any tale you may hear in this side of the globe.

By reading it, you get to know a lot about the basis of a whole culture.

The Monkey King was the inspiration - direct or otherwise - for many mangá creators.

Suggested for people who are really interested in the Asian culture.

Interesting to note that Xuanzang's journey coincided with the Taoist

alchemist's failed attempt to create the elixir of life (immortality).

He blundered into gunpowder instead, thus sending mankind down the road

to Prometheus, Pandora, and perdition rather than up and over the fabled

hill of Sisyphus to the Shangri-la realm of Asklepios and Panacea.

The tamed Monkey controlled initially by a fillet and later by himself

represents the victory of Buddhism's metaphorical immortality over

Taoism's failed experiments in real immortality. Had Tony Yu made this

point in his preface, I'd have given him 5 stars.

Note: Joseph Needham is very good on Taoist alchemy and gunpowder.

1) The translation is poor. For example, when Sun Wukong ("Monkey") calls himself "lao3 sun1" in Chinese, Yu translates that into "old Monkey." This is just dumb. Something like a plain "I" or "this old monkey" would have worked better. There are many such examples. The translated English text almost requires you to know Chinese to understand. Definitely not for the masses.

2) I can't believe most of the stories in the 2nd half of the original novel are omitted. This abridged edition seems to focus on the first half of the Xiyouji ("Journey to the West") novel. Great stories like the Ox King and the nymphs are completely cut out. This is just absolutely terrible. On the other hand, the uninteresting, semi-religious side stories about the origin of Xuanzang (Tang Sanzang) are kept. What's more, all those poems in the chapters that are included here are retained -- you know, Chinese poems (shi and ci) that are extremely difficult to translate which should have been left out of an abridged edition.

In short, don't get this book. It's absolutely terrible and a waste of money. You might as well get the unabridged translation, by either Yu (expensive) or by Waley (old but affordable). But if you really want to appreciate the great novel, you should study Chinese (5-6 years full-time) and then read the original Chinese edition.