The journey to the west
The story of Xuanzang, the monk who went from China to India in quest of Buddhist scriptures.
Stats for nerds
11recommend
56mentions
52people
2010–2026years
21% recommend79% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- The cultural canon in the USA will lean towards that. I will say that, if we are to suggest more global reading, concrete examples are always welcome! I would of course recommend Journey to the West. Even among the Four Great Classical Novels it has huge lasting influence
- I've read the complete Anthony C Yu four volume Journey to the West translation and I don't think there are many, if any, good comparisons in Western literature. There's an overarching story for the Monkey King, Tang Sanzang, and the rest of the gang, contained within the work, but the bulk of the chapters are self-contained episodic stories, with mostly those same characters, and can be read without almost any knowledge of the others.
The closest Western example I can think of with a novel-like work similarly containing many disconnected episodic stories is Don Quixote.
- Dunno, but Monkey ('Journey to the West') by Wu Cheng'en was a great book as I remember. Wish I had time to read it again.
- I was looking for this comment just to give it a +1. Journey to the West has had a massive cultural impact and it's delightful to see where a lot of those memes originated. Fans of modern fantasy will feel right at home.
- I have no idea what your tastes are but I found both Journey to the West and the Odyssey to be very fun and exciting, with elements of what would appeal to someone about more kid-oriented stories (adventures, fantastical creatures, fighting), but written with a more mature audience in mind. Moby Dick is another I would put in this "tale of adventure" bucket but it can be polarizing with the info-dumps about whaling.
If you want to try going in a totally different direction, I am a big fan of Abe Kobo's avant-garde work, such as The Box Man or the Ark Sakura. I guarantee it's unlike anything else you've read if you've avoided straying from the kiddie pool, playing with the whole structure of the novel itself and challenging your expectations constantly.
If you want to try some nonfiction, I have rarely read a Paul Theroux travel book I was bored by and I think Ryszard Kapuscinski is also great.
- Journey to the West
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West
..and not just for the fun Monkey bits.
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