Monkey King: Journey to the West translated by Julia Lovell

Like everyone else using Facebook, I will come across a variety of video Reels that show up on my feed. One in particular has captured my interest. The Reel is produced by someone going by the name of Wenjiang Caihuaxiaoyuan. The videos are Chinese language comedies with English subtitles. The premise of these videos is of a place of business run by a middle aged woman, employing three or four younger women.

In one, the punchline was one of the younger women saying she was the daughter of Sun Wukong. Of course, I had to do a web search of Sun Wukong.

According to Wikipedia:
"Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. Five hundred years later, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang riding on the White Dragon Horse and two other disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Heshang, on a journey to obtain Buddhist sutras, known as the West or Western Paradise, where Buddha and his followers dwell".

Journey to the West seemed like something I'd be interested in reading, so I searched online for English translations. I located a four volume unabridged version translated by Anthony C. Yu as well an abridged, one volume work translated by Julia Lovell (Monkey King: Journey to the West). I decided that I'd read the shorter, abridged translation first.

Journey to the West has strong roots in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoist and Buddhist folklore. Sun Wukong is a monkey born on Flower Fruit Mountain from a stone egg that forms from an ancient rock created by the coupling of Heaven and Earth. The Monkey King possesses supernatural strength and magical powers and is the inspiration of many modern manhwa, manhua, manga and anime series.

One of the downsides to the adventures in the novel is Sun Wukong always finds his way out of any predicament by the use of his supernatural powers. Like a Superman comic, it can become wearisome reading at times. Overall, I enjoyed the novel, although I'm certainly glad I choose the much smaller abridged version. Four volumes of the same thing would have been too much.