Reading Notes: The Monkey King, Part A

I've never spent much time reading Eastern literature before. I'm not sure why, but I've not. Something that jumps out at me as I read the Monkey King (couple with what little else I've read from the East) is that it seems like Eastern tales and folklore often feature animals in deity-like roles. In this particular story, the writing is very direct, lacking much exploration in each setting.

It's odd to think about a monkey living in the world of man, so I think a story about a man learning to live among monkeys could be interesting. Or it could be exactly like Tarzan. Maybe that's where the idea came from, ha ha.

Sun Wu Kung learns how to perform other abilities throughout the story. In a different story, maybe man learns different abilities that end up helping him defeat something. I would just have to figure out what he would defeat.

One note that I found interesting is the fact that the dragon-devil's name is Triton -- a name from Greek mythology. I find it fascinating how words and names can flow through different cultures.

Sun Wu Kung also becomes a bit of a menace to those he visits, so having a man become the menace would probably translate well into a modern world.

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Bibliography: The Monkey King, edited by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921)

Image: Sun Wukong at Beijing Opera, via Wikimedia Commons