Anyone ever tried to read this? Is it worth a read?
>>25453250Yeah, I enjoyed it. The translation is surprisingly accessible, and it's interesting seeing how a completely foreign culture writes a story like that. I'm always surprised how obsessed the Asians are with numbers.
>>25453250yes, and its too goofy to take serious. No reason to actually read it. Im thoroughly convinced this is viewed as a perfect children's novel with its short chapters and funny monkey man in China
>>25453469>its too goofy to take serious>implying the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Divine Comedy, Faust, Hamlet, Don Quixote, Gargantua and Pantagruel, Moby-Dick, Ulysses, Tristram Shandy, and Gravity's Rainbow aren't
>>25453250Please stop trying to discuss Chinese literature/philosophy on /lit/, you're just going to get memed on really hard by westaboo basedboys and you'll have a bad time. I wish it were otherwise but there's literally nothing you can do about it.
>>25453250I was going to buy a used copy of Volume 1 of Yu's translation just two weeks ago, but by the time I got around to paying for it someone else had already bought the final copy. Instead I turned an old hardwood curtain rail my neighbor's threw out into a fighting pole like Sun Wukong uses, and if someone ever breaks into my home I'll fight them off with it and make monkey noises
>>25453250Yes. Yes. But it was a religious thing for me. If you're Christian imagine a Buddhist reading Pilgrim's Progress.
>>25453250I read an abridged version for a Chinese class, it was alright. I'm sure the full text must go hard with all the poems and stuff.
>>25454210Elaborate on the religious journey, anon
>>25454344Allegorically the imaginative capacity of mind masters all of the Daoist arts and becomes immortal and all powerful, going to permanent war with heaven. He is tricked by Buddha in a piss-handjob: wherever you go there Buddha already is.The mind coheres in the form of a Dragon, two bureaucrats, and a Chinese priests that Monkey tricked. They have allegorical functions about modes of thinking. They proceed to beat up Daoist demons who form stuck modes of thought, eventually turning the demons by the end into normal conscious beings.They bring back the real sutras, which are blank, so they get given fake sutras instead, which contain content. Mostly it is about thought becoming unattached. And beating the living crap out of Daoists.
>>25453538>the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Divine Comedy, Faust, Hamlet, Moby-Dick, Ulyssesnothing funny here>Don Quixote, literally meant as aa serial laugh at the silly fool sit com>Gargantua and Pantagruel, huh?>Tristram Shandy, huh?>and Gravity's Rainbownot a serious book anyways.
>>25453250I’ve read many years ago the abridged version “Monkey”. Currently reading the revised edition you posted, there’s stuff for everybody in there: action fans, poetry fans, religion fans, alchemy fans, romance fans, furries.
>>25455453You can't be serious, your funny bone is broken, see a doctor
>>25455551Bet you think Fraiser, Friends and Seinfeld are fucking hilarious.
>>25453250Just watch the old TVB tv series.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb-YGsQdn2A&list=PLf6G-fGLWGfyCHUe3ISVH0JNqGdlwsFDmUnfortunately they removed the songs. Long story. Basically the CCP is evil. Man, I fucking hate the CCP. You can always torrent the more complete version. But that comes with its own issues. Again, fuck the CCP.
I didn't care for it, but I don't care for most chinese classics.It's sort of similar to the way wuxia/xianxia novels come across to the western reader. Vaguely alien and you're missing a lot, even with a good translation. There's background information that is culturally relevant to them and the story but completely alien to you. Whether that's the number of sacred lakes in the dingdong province or the way that they were being served rice with the chopsticks up or whatever. If you read it you'll end up with about half the actual story. It's as though you were reading through a pane of smoked glass.
Do I still need to read this if I've already watched Dragon Ball?
Goku is basically Superman. And I've read all the good superman comics, Kingdom Come, All-Star Superman, Red Son.
>>25455652When I was a child I saw as through a scanner darkly, but now that I've read KJV I fuck men in their arseholes.
>>25453255>I'm always surprised how obsessed the Asians are with numbers.
>>25456351the Chinese also invented the term "brainwashing", and they didn't even intend it to have a negative connotation
>>25456363I mean it sounds positive, kinda like "ethnic cleansing". Otherwise it would be brainsoiling and ethnic dirtying
>>25453250I read a different abridged translation. Was more entertaining than I'd expected and it's cool to have the context behind Monkey King.
>>25453250For some reason I always assumed this story was one of the world's ancient classics, imagine my surprise finding out that the author was a contemporary of Shakespeare and Cervantes. Kind of made it lose its mystique a little in my opinion.
>>25456351Neat, but I was talking about their hyper-specific measuring of things.
>>25456351That's not even half of their numbered historical events. Recently I read a lot about Chinese history and every other thing is some Four Peepees and Five Poopoos
>>25456387Yeah Shakespeare and Cervantes are johnny come lately fucks with no value.
I started reading it about four or five years ago now, never finished the first volume but I enjoyed what bit I read the translation you posted is excellent, very beautiful writing honestly but there's just so goddamn much of it and I heard it gets so fucking repetitive that I just lost steam and read something else. Those translations are expensive as fuck too, run you about $35 a piece for each volume. I think I have the first three, never got around to acquiring any others. Maybe I'll read it all someday, I'm personally kinda obsessed with Chinese history, art and philosophy (especially daoist) so when I learned that it was essentially just one long shitpost by a Buddhist dunking on Daoists I kinda stopped giving a shit.
>>25455453Huh? Huh? You got asthma or something you huffing, puffing, wheezing troglodyte?
>>25455641Fraiser genuinely is funny though.
Has anyone read the other Journeys? There's four of them but I only ever see anyone talk about the West one.
>>25453250>Buddhism good>taoists stoopid>indomitable human spirit must be tamed by the heart>The Buddha>>>>>Laotzuthere you have it. That's the Journey to the West
>>25455453>the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Divine Comedy, Faust, Hamlet, Moby-Dick, Ulysses>nothing funny hereBruh...
>>25456902Kek, knew it. Fucking loser.
>vore>mpreg
>>25455453bro the book has comedy in its title
>>25456603no one knows or cares about your niche favorite books retard.
>>25457491>doesn't know about classic funny booksYou are retarded and your opinion on comedy is worthless.
I got about 65 chapters in.It's very entertaining, loved it.
