Monkey (Penguin Classics)

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Waley's translation was for many years the most popular version of Journey to the West in the English language and therefore cited by Western scholars of Chinese literature. Professor of Chinese literature David Lattimore described it as a "minor landmark of 20th-century English translation" but with the publication of Anthony C. Yu's four-volume, unabridged translation it must now "relinquish its always slender claim to represent, with any degree of substantiality, the Chinese original". [1] In 2000, Elaine Yee Lin Ho, in her study of the British writer Timothy Mo, says Monkey remains "the most popular and textually accessible translation" of Journey to the West. [5] The literary scholar Andrew H. Plaks said Waley not only shortened the work, but "through its selection of episodes gave rise to the misleading impression that this is essentially a compendium of popular materials marked by folk wit and humor." In this, Waley followed an interpretation from earlier in the century by the scholar Hu Shih, who wrote an introduction to the 1943 edition of Waley's book. Hu scorned the allegorical interpretations of the novel as old-fashioned and instead insisted that the stories were simply comic. Hu Shih reflected the popular reading of the novel, but he did not account for the levels of meaning and allegorical framework that scholars considered to be an important part. [6] Ji, Hao (2016). "A Comparative Study of Two Major English Translations of the Journey to the West: Monkey and The Monkey and the Monk". Journal of Chinese Humanities. Leiden: Brill. 2 (1): 77–97. doi: 10.1163/23521341-12340027. Full Access Preface to the First Edition". Journey to the West. Vol.1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp.xiii–xv. Ragnor looked very regretful about all the choices that had led to his being in this place and especially in this company. Later he stooped and hissed, low enough so Giuliana could not hear and in a way that reminded Magnus horribly of his monkey nemesis: "Did you forget that you can do magic?"

Pardon me, but we did not have the time to exchange that kind of personal information," Magnus said. "I could not have known! Moreover, I wish to assure both of you that I did not make any amorous advances on female monkeys." He paused and winked. "I didn't actually see any, so I never got the chance." If you enjoyed Monkey, you might like Confucius's The Analects, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. Read more Details Deeply moving, insightful and surprisingly funny, this is Christopher Fowler's life-affirming account of coming to terms with his own mortality. A remarkable book by a remarkable writer: amazingly entertaining and informative and also, for obvious reasons, one of the most moving.' SIMON MASON, author of the DI Wilkins Mysteries

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Monkey is said to have been the inspiration for Cordwainer Smith's epic novel Norstrilia. [8] Cancelled film [ edit ]

Even in this attenuated form, however, Waley's version further deviates from the original by having left out large portions of certain chapters (e.g., 10 and 19). What is most regrettable is that Waley, despite his immense gift for, and magnificent achievements in, the translation of Chinese verse, has elected to ignore the many poems—some 750 of them—that are structured in the narrative. Not only is the fundamental literary form of the work thereby distorted, but also much of the narrative vigor and descriptive power of its language which have attracted generations of Chinese readers is lost. [4] Influence [ edit ] He shouted, spun, and sprinted through the rain forest. He did not even think to drop the fruit. It fell one by one in a bright cascade as he ran for his life from the simian menace. He heard it in hot pursuit and fled faster, until all his fruit was gone and he ran right into Ragnor. Very little is known about Wu Ch'êng-ên (c.1505-80) although he is believed to have held the post of District Magistrate for a time. He had a reputation as a good poet but only a few rather commonplace verses of his survive in an anthology of Ming poetry and in a local gazetteer. At the outset of the novel, the Buddha seeks a pilgrim who will travel to India. The hope is to retrieve sacred scriptures by which the Chinese people may be enlightened so that their behaviour may accord with the tenets of Buddhism. The young monk Tripitaka volunteers to undertake the pilgrimage. Along the way, he encounters and frees the Monkey King. He and Monkey thereafter recruit Pigsy and Sandy. They liberate a captive princess and punish her abductor, who has also murdered her father. The father is resurrected and reinstalled as king. They meet several bodhisattvas and fight fierce monsters, before finally arriving at Buddha's palace.It's the story of how a young bookworm growing up in a house where there was nothing to read but knitting pamphlets and motorcycle manuals became a writer - a 'word monkey' - and pursued a sort of career in popular fiction. And it's a book full of brilliant insights into the pleasures and pitfalls of his profession, dos and don'ts for would-be writers, and astute observations on favourite (and not-so-favourite) novelists. Also known as Journey to the West, Wu Ch'êng-ên's Monkey is one of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature, translated by Arthur Waley in Penguin Classics. Journey to the West may be roughly divided into three parts: first, the introduction including the origin of Monkey ( Sun Wukong), Tripitaka ( Tang Sanzang), Pigsy ( Zhu Bajie), and Sandy ( Sha Wujing); second, the actual journey to the west, which has an episodic nature; and last, the ending, telling what happens when the pilgrims reach their destination. Waley chose to translate the entirety of the introductory and ending chapters, as well as three episodes, each several chapters long, of the journey to the west.