Qualapec the She-Wolf
03-29-2007, 11:56 PM
Go west young man!
....not quite.
For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about. The Journey West is an ancient Chinese fantasy novel written by Wu Ch'eng En in the sixteen century. It chronicals the antics of Monkey, a creature born from rock who becomes extremely powerful. When I say extremely powerful, I mean Superman x 100. It follows him as he protects a monk, Tripitaka, who is going westward from China to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures. Along the way they are accompanied by Sandy and Pigsy, two gods who were cast down from heaven and are trying to repent as monsters on earth. The book consists of about 100 chapters, most of these chapters consist of short stories as the four main characters travel.
I'm just curious. Who has heard of this ancient Chinese folk novel? Better yet, who likes it?
I've been reading about it online ever since my interest was sparked a few months ago. Not too long ago I bought the Arthur Waley abridged version, Monkey, and am almost finished reading it. Unfortunately I haven't been able to buy any of the four-volume translated versions that are out there.
So, has anyone read the full translated versions? What did you think?
What do you think of the story in general?
Personally I love every second of it. It's a fantastic story. Really funny too. There are some seriously hilarious (not to mention outragous) things in there, even for modern, American audiences.
~She-Wolf
....not quite.
For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about. The Journey West is an ancient Chinese fantasy novel written by Wu Ch'eng En in the sixteen century. It chronicals the antics of Monkey, a creature born from rock who becomes extremely powerful. When I say extremely powerful, I mean Superman x 100. It follows him as he protects a monk, Tripitaka, who is going westward from China to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures. Along the way they are accompanied by Sandy and Pigsy, two gods who were cast down from heaven and are trying to repent as monsters on earth. The book consists of about 100 chapters, most of these chapters consist of short stories as the four main characters travel.
I'm just curious. Who has heard of this ancient Chinese folk novel? Better yet, who likes it?
I've been reading about it online ever since my interest was sparked a few months ago. Not too long ago I bought the Arthur Waley abridged version, Monkey, and am almost finished reading it. Unfortunately I haven't been able to buy any of the four-volume translated versions that are out there.
So, has anyone read the full translated versions? What did you think?
What do you think of the story in general?
Personally I love every second of it. It's a fantastic story. Really funny too. There are some seriously hilarious (not to mention outragous) things in there, even for modern, American audiences.
~She-Wolf