Monkey: Journey to the West

Wu Cheng'en, translated by Arthur Waley

Monkey, Arthur Waley’s abridged translation from the 1940s, is often very funny. It is more aimed at children than Julia Lovell’s recent translation Monkey King (which is also a lot of fun). Arguably, Monkey is more of a boys’ adventure story, leaving out some of the goriest bits as well as most of the chapters with strong female characters. The language is more old-fashioned but the relationship between Monkey and Pigsy, in particular, provides plenty of entertainment for readers.

The basis for Journey to the West is the 7th century journey of Xuanzang, a Buddhist monk who travelled from China through Central Asia to India and back. The novel is essentially a series of stand-alone adventure stories starring Monkey (Sun Wukong) who often has to save the pilgrims from a hungry monster.