Monkey: Journey to the West by Wu Ch’êng-ên, trans. Arthur Waley (Allen & Unwin, 1942) For all its mischievousness and whimsy, this episodic sixteenth century Chinese fairy tale comes across as terribly belaboured in written form. When slogging through 350 pages it’s hard not to think that even Wu Ch’êng-ên would have preferred the cult television show.
