Journey to the West

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

"Journey to the West," an iconic Chinese literary masterpiece by Wu Cheng'en, follows the epic pilgrimage of Xuanzang, a devoted monk, and his eccentric companions – the Monkey King, Pigsy, and Sandy – to retrieve sacred scriptures from India. Their journey spans perilous terrains, facing mythical beasts and deities while testing their loyalty and resilience. Rich in allegory, the tale explores themes of friendship, redemption, and spiritual enlightenment. The Monkey King's transformation and the group's challenges mirror human struggles, imparting moral lessons and Buddhist teachings.

The novel holds immense cultural significance, reflecting Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist beliefs. Its allegorical characters symbolize human traits, and its narrative carries moral and ethical messages. As a cornerstone of Chinese literature, it has shaped storytelling, folklore, and arts for generations. The work's influence extends beyond China, inspiring adaptations, plays, and modern retellings globally, solidifying its place as a cultural treasure that transcends borders and time.

Embark on an Epic Adventure with "Journey to the West," Translated by Joan Ninja Hen and ChatGPT.

This translation features:

- Consistently maintained names, titles, and timely reminders of characters who might not have been mentioned for a few chapters. This cleverly assists you in maneuvering through the intricate Chinese names and whimsical celestial titles, ensuring smoother reading, even if you decide to take breaks from the story.

- Interspersed within are rhyming poems, occasionally transformed into battle raps (if you use AI why not really go for it).

- The translation aims for precision, closely mirroring the original text without omitting or abbreviating any content.

The translation is based on the public domain version of the novel at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23962

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: Joan_Ninja_Hen

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.9/ 5.0
Followers: 35
Views: 22,933

Chapters(46 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(4)

Adambomb625Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The songs/poems are in the text so as to not break the flow of the story if you want to read them, yet at the same distinct enough to avoid if you don't. The translator also provides useful annotations for cultural aspects that a Western audience might not get. All in all a great job so far.
Kalli51Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Because it's a Translation of one of the great stories of humanity, 5 Stars in most of the categories are given.
The style is stylish enough.
I enjoyed some of the poems but there are a lot.
I loved the Translation comments, they are live savers. Can you translate war and peace as well? Please?
Sun Wukong is a more interessting char than I thought. BTW
Now i just hope, that we can enjoy the entire Story. It's long...
I'm not sure how the translator will handle the brutal parts... can modern audiences handle it?
Silverstorm4444Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
You see that "AI assistance" warning on this one? It's not what you think.
Journey is old. Older than this site. Older than you. Older than your grandparents. It's part of classical east Asian literature. What's been done is that it's actually been translated with the help of chatGPT and from what I can understand a couple of other AIs.
Which makes it really hard to classify the way we traditionally do on this site. What's more interesting to me is the care that's been taken with this piece. I can't read Chinese, but I remember having this book of world mythologies as a kid and reading about Monkey and the Jade Emperor and others that show up in this story. They come across just as I pictured them, which I feel is important.
Furthermore, this isn't just something that an ai spat out and was posted. The ai's may be running the translation, but the author still edits everything together and the tone comes across poetic like I imagine the original, but modern so you can understand it. There's author notes that explain the deeper mythology, the character importance to that mythology, and just so much more.
So give it a read, it is the original Wuxia after all.
T.A.L DeasonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Overall score - the Author is attempting to use AI to translate a classic here. personally, I can tell that this is a labor of love for the author, although this type of story isn't my forte it is being done well for the most part. I think the Author is very knowledgeable of the subject matter, and like i said this is a labor of love so Kudos to the author for all the hard work.
Style score - this is where I see a few issues. maybe it's due to the translation but some of the words used seem too modern, while most of the words and phrasing are old style. it kind of jolted me out of the story.
Grammar score - great use of grammar and punctuation.
Story - since this is a translation i just gave a score based on how i feel about the story. not something I would personally dive into usually. but its a good story overall.
Character score - Sun Wukong seems very one dimensional. he wants immortality, he wants power, and he is willing to step on anyone to get it. I understand what the character is trying to do and I know there will be a redemption arc of sorts. with that being said I just dont love the character.