This translation is a comprehensive work covering 100 chapters of Journey to the West. Volume I consists of the first 25 chapters. It's a bit of a slow start, but once the journey itself begins and each chapter ends on a cliffhanger, you're drawn quickly to the next adventure. (In all, it also resembles a travel book, albeit one of mythical landscapes and legendary escapades.) What is going to be off putting for quite a few readers is the translator's Introduction, which covers almost 200 pages. The Intro contains much interesting and valuable information, especially for scholars in the area, but it most appropriately should be positioned as an Afterwards. Too much analysis and detailed citing of earlier works makes it largely valueless for someone with but a bare minimum of knowledge about Journey and its place in Chinese literature.

What couldn't be helped, is my trying to find equivalents in other myths and epics. The tale of the Monkey King and his search for immortality, for example, echoes Gilgamesh. Old Monkey's abilitly to transport himself over vast distances with but one step and riding across the sky on clouds sounds similar to Seven-League Boots and Arabian Nights. And, yes, the way in which villainous characters are drafted into Tripitaka's (Xuanzang) band and made into monks, wayward though they may be, reminds me of The Wizard of Oz. Outrageous you say? Oz includes "The Dainty China Country" in its tale, and, indeed, Oz could be China.

Up next. Volume 2.