Journey to the West translations

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Velasa
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Journey to the West translations

Post by Velasa » Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:14 am

I've been wanting to read Journey to the West for some time. But I've had trouble with getting good versions of translated books before, so I figured I would ask here before ending up with a hack job again.

Does anyone know of a well-priced, complete and accurate translation of the old legend? What publisher or edition should I look for?
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Post by Herms » Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:21 am

The Anthony Yu translation is a complete, 4 volume translation, and is supposed to be the best. Here it is on Amazon: volume 1 2 3 4. He's also done an abridged version.

My college library has only the first three volumes for some reason...
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Post by Ash » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:36 am

Having read the Jenner, Yu and Waley translations of the book, I'd say the Yu translation is the best, having the best English text and lots of footnotes :3
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Post by Genki-Dama » Mon Jul 14, 2008 3:30 am

Is it a good read? Would a high school student enjoy this?

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Post by Zuhalter2000 » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:57 am

Genki-Dama wrote:Is it a good read? Would a high school student enjoy this?
I reading a shortened version titled Monkey. Its one of those stories that goes adventure after adventure (I like those). It isnt a difficult read. I got really boring for me when Monkey was not in the story but when hes there it kept my atttention. You wouldnt have any trouble reading it (I started to read it the very end of my seniro year).
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Post by DBZGokuSaiyan » Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:58 pm

Zuhalter2000 wrote:
Genki-Dama wrote:Is it a good read? Would a high school student enjoy this?
I reading a shortened version titled Monkey. Its one of those stories that goes adventure after adventure (I like those). It isnt a difficult read. I got really boring for me when Monkey was not in the story but when hes there it kept my atttention. You wouldnt have any trouble reading it (I started to read it the very end of my seniro year).
Ahhhhh yes... Monkey. :D I would say go with Monkey or even the Yu books....

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Post by tinlunlau » Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:18 pm

Y'all should check out the movies while you're at it.
I recommend director Jeff Lau's "A Chinese Odyssey" films starring Kung Fu Hustle's Stephen Chow and his recent "A Chinese Tall Story" starring Nicholas Tse.

In fact, I even took part in translating the DVD bonus features for "A Chinese Tall Story". Having read thru Jeff Lau's entire director's audio commentary, he's got quite a lot of insight on the stories itself. Having Studio Ghibli's main maestro Joe Hisaishi doing the music score for "A Chinese Tall Story" was a pretty nice touch too.
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