"The Journey to the West" is a lengthy 16th century novel, regarded as one of the four great classics of Chinese literature. The author of the book is uncertain, but is thought to be Wu Cheng'en. This volume contains the first twenty-five chapters of the hundred-chapter narrative, plus extensive notes and a ninety-six-page introduction by the translator, Anthony C. Yu. I found the introduction a difficult read, no doubt due to my prior ignorance about almost everything it covered. But the introduction was helpful, and I am glad I labored through it.

The book itself defied my expectations. It was neither dry, nor dense, nor inscrutable. To my surprise, it appears to have been intended to be fun, and, despite the intervening centuries, I often found it such. The narrative is a fantastical retelling of Xuanzang's pilgrimage to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures, a pilgrimage that took place roughly a thousand years before "The Journey to the West" was written. In the retelling, there are gods, monsters, dragons, trickery, humor, and a plethora of epic fights. There is also a remarkably large amount of poetry, serving both as description and commentary, and the poetry lightened the reading. Since this volume contains only the first quarter of the story, I will postpone further comments for now.