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  • Published: 27 January 2005
  • ISBN: 9780141930107
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352
Categories:

Monkey




Arthur Waley's humorous and energetic translation is accompanied by an introduction discussing the story's background in history and legend, its elements of anti-bureaucratic satire and the allegorical nature of its characters

Monkey depicts the adventures of Prince Tripitaka, a young Buddhist priest on a dangerous pilgrimage to India to retrieve sacred scriptures accompanied by his three unruly disciples: the greedy pig creature Pipsy, the river monster Sandy – and Monkey. Hatched from a stone egg and given the secrets of heaven and earth, the irrepressible trickster Monkey can ride on the clouds, become invisible and transform into other shapes – skills that prove very useful when the four travellers come up against the dragons, bandits, demons and evil wizards that threaten to prevent them in their quest. Wu Ch’êng-ên wrote Monkey in the mid-sixteenth century, adding his own distinctive style to an ancient Chinese legend, and in so doing created a dazzling combination of nonsense with profundity, slapstick comedy with spiritual wisdom.

  • Published: 27 January 2005
  • ISBN: 9780141930107
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352
Categories:

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