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It's spiritually uplifting (even for an atheist like me), it's sometimes sad (but never maudlin), but most of all it's funny. Often Rolling On The Floor-funny. Puns, slapstick, razor-sharp wit and even some bizarre lines and situations that Spike Milligan or the Pythons would have been proud to have thought of: something for every well-developed sense of humour.
Furthermore, I cannot recommend this translation highly enough.
The main difference between the Yu translation and the Waley translation from the 50s is that the latter is heavily abridged, whereas Yu has here translated the novel's 100 chapters in their entirety over 4 volumes. (And don't let the fact it's 4 volumes long deter you however: Yu's translation is copiously annotated and footnoted, which contributes much to the page count but isn't essential to enjoyment of the novel.) Yu himself acknowledges a debt to the Waley translation and nowhere is that debt more obvious than in the handling of the dialogue, particularly in the bantering exchanges between Monkey and Pigsy (and the asides between Pigsy and Sandy as they take the mickey out of Monkey behind his back) -all very much as they were in the old NTV series that played on BBC2 in the 80s (and more recently on C4).
The narrative follows the adventures of a stone monkey, hatched from a stone egg, who causes uproar in Heaven (their own fault: hiring The Great Sage Equal of Heaven as a mere horse-groom indeed!) until he's pinned under a mountain by the Buddha to await the arrival of a Holy Pilgrim. He's to guard this monk as he journeys to India to collect holy sciptures, and along the way they are joined by a pig-spirit (Pigsy -a former Marshal of Heaven being punished for lechery), a river spirit (Sandy -also a former official of Heaven) and a horse that was once a dragon. As the journey proceeds, various obstacles -monsters, demons, evil Daoists, their own frailties etc.- block their path, but eventually they reach their goal, which is as much enlightenment as it is the Sutras the monk was sent to collect: it isn't for nothing that this novel has been called "a Buddhist 'Pilgrim's Progress'". (Except that Journey To The West is actually enjoyable.) Excuse me while I rave, rant and enthuse uncontrollably...
Fans of the Japanese TV series 'Monkey' will love this, as the programme is based on the story 'Journey To The West'. I read this book and it is brilliant, even though it does take a while to read! I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in Buddhism, China, Pilgrimages or MONKEY!
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