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Monkey book cover
Monkey
The Journey to the West
1592
First Published
4.04
Average Rating
336
Number of Pages
Probably the most popular book in the history of the Far East, this classic sixteenth century novel is a combination of picaresque novel and folk epic that mixes satire, allegory, and history into a rollicking adventure. It is the story of the roguish Monkey and his encounters with major and minor spirits, gods, demigods, demons, ogres, monsters, and fairies. This translation, by the distinguished scholar Arthur Waley, is the first accurate English version; it makes available to the Western reader a faithful reproduction of the spirit and meaning of the original.
Avg Rating
4.04
Number of Ratings
8,089
5 STARS
36%
4 STARS
38%
3 STARS
19%
2 STARS
5%
1 STARS
1%
goodreads

Author

Wu Cheng'en
Wu Cheng'en
Author · 18 books

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database. Wu Cheng'en (simplified Chinese: 吴承恩; traditional Chinese: 吳承恩; pinyin: Wú Chéng'ēn, ca. 1505–1580 or 1500–1582, courtesy name Ruzhong (汝忠), pen name "Sheyang Hermit," was a Chinese novelist and poet of the Ming Dynasty, best known for being the probable author of one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, Journey to the West, also called Monkey.

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