Book Description

The third volume in the classic saga: “A complete, faithful, and fully delightful translation of China’s most beloved novel.” —The Hudson Review Anthony C. Yu’s translation of The Journey to the West introduced English-speaking audiences to the classic Chinese novel in its entirety for the first time in 1983. Written in the sixteenth century, The Journey to the West tells the story of the fourteen-year pilgrimage of the monk Xuanzang, one of China’s most famous religious heroes, and his three supernatural disciples, in search of Buddhist scriptures. Throughout his journey, Xuanzang fights demons who wish to eat him, communes with spirits, and traverses a land riddled with a multitude of obstacles, both real and fantastical. An adventure rich with danger and excitement, this seminal work of the Chinese literary canon is by turns allegory, satire, and fantasy. With over a hundred chapters written in both prose and poetry, Yu triumphed in preserving its plot and the lyricism of its language in a translation that “does full justice to the adventure, lyricism and buffoonery [yet] is completely sensitive to the spiritual content of the text as well” (The New York Times Book Review). In this new edition, he has made his translations even more accurate and accessible. The explanatory notes are updated and augmented, and Yu has added new material to his introduction, based on his original research as well as on the newest literary criticism and scholarship on Chinese religious traditions. He has also modernized the transliterations included in each volume, using the now-standard Hanyu Pinyin romanization system. Perhaps most important, Yu has made changes to the translation itself in order to make it as precise as possible. One of the great works of Chinese literature, The Journey to the West is not only invaluable to scholars of Eastern religion and literature, but, in Yu’s elegant rendering, also a delightful read. “This revised edition is the crowning glory of a highly productive scholarly career . . . a text worthy of very wide reading.” —Journal of Chinese Religions Volume 3 of 4