The Voyage in Occident

The Voyage in Occident or Xiyouji (西遊記, Pinyin : xīyoújì, Lagging-Gilles : Hsi Yu Chi, in Japanese Rōmaji : saiyuki, “the Voyage in Occident”, sometimes translated into the King of the monkeys or the Peregrinations into the West ) is a novel of Wu Cheng' in (1500? - 1582?).

It describes forwarding in India, at the 7th century, of the bonze Xuanzang (玄奘) (602-664) who, in this fantastic Roman, meets a whole series of monsters. It is accompanied by the monkey Sun Wukong (孫悟空, the monkey of the mountain ), the pig Zhu Bajie (豬八戒, the Pig with the Eight Wishes) and Shaseng (沙僧), the Bonze of Sands, still called Sha Wujing (沙悟淨 Sha Conscience of the Purity). These three fantastic characters see themselves obliged to become the assistants of Xuanzang; it is a question for Sun Wukong of assagir and of carrying out its potential, for the two others to erase the consequences of their last errors which transformed them into demons. The mounting of the bonze is a prince dragon transformed into horse. This novel belongs to four large works of fiction of the Chinese traditional literature, with the Histoire of the Three Kingdoms , At the edge of water and the Dream in the red house .

One can foresee through the account the time Ming whose political system and administrative is reproduced in the entourage of the demons and their relations, as well as the ideological and religious syncretism, mixture of Buddhism, taoism, and Confucianism. In addition to the quality of the writing, attractive descriptions and removed rate/rhythm, one of the attractions of work is that it offers several reading levels as well as a large variety of topics. The sometimes humorous tone makes that it could be interpreted like a satire of the company of the time.

Broad outlines

The first chapters describe the birth and the past of Sun Wukong, the origins of Xuanzang and its decision to leave to seek will soutras them, then their meeting and that of the two other disciples, whose past is evoked. The voyage continues, rate/rhythm by the meeting of many malefic creatures of the two more picturesque sexes the ones than the others. The disciples, particularly the monkey, regularly put their fantastic capacities at the service of the bonze whose personality, mixes incredible naivety - which makes the prey dreamed of the demons of it - and of wisdom, contributes to give to the Voyage its somewhat satirical coloring.

The author

The novel was published for the first time at the end of the 16th century. Like habit, the name of the author was not mentioned, and the various editors could modify the contents or the length of the work. The identity of its author thus was ignored a long time. In Japan was published in the beginning of the 18th century the first translation in foreign language, according to a version with accompanying notes of the end of Ming entitled: Critical of Xiyouji by Mr. Li Zhuowu ; the Voyage was thus published there initially under the name of the commentator. In China, the first to propose an author was Wang Jiaxu of the Qing in its Voyage in Occident with the research of the evidence of the Way ; it allotted to it the paternity of the Voyage to the taoist Qiu Chuji of the end of the Song. This opinion was taken again by the other well-read men, until the end of the Manchu era where one started to notice that the text mentioned habits dating from Ming, and that certain parts were written in dialect of Huai' year, province of the Jiangsu.

The assumption Wu Cheng' in was published for the first time by Lu Xun and Hu Shi. One had indeed discovered in official annals of the prefecture of Huai' year the mention of a Xiyouji composed by this well-read man. This attribution remained disputed a long time by part of the specialists. Indeed, the title Xiyouji had already been used for other works, and official annals do not mention works of fiction in theory. Moreover, the catalog of a collector of the dynasty Qing, Huang Yuji, mentions it like works geographical. The writings of Wu Cheng' in which reached us as those of the well-read men with whom it was in relation do not refer to the novel by no means. Nevertheless, no other plausible candidate could be proposed, and although there does not exist positive proof, the profile of Wu Cheng' corresponds about it well to that which one lends to the author, like still showed it in the Nineties Liu Xiaoye and Yan Jingchang.

Before and after the Voyage

This novel, of the unanimous opinion of the specialists, is successful the most in the abundant fantastic literature of the time Ming. It takes again a popular topic exploited as of Tang by the literature and the theater. One can see with Dunhuang illustrations of the account dating from the beginning of the Xixia (1032 - 1227) where already the figure of the monkey with a stick appears.

Xuanzang had left an account of its voyage: Report/ratio of the voyage in Occident the time of Large Tang written by its Bianji disciple on order of the Taizong emperor, perhaps under the dictation of the Master, perhaps of memory. A little later the monks Huili and Yancong wrote the Histoire of Sanzang Master of the temple of the Great Compassion , which contains already fantastic adventures. In the field of the fiction, one knows the Ballades of the research of will soutras Song and the Saynètes of the voyage in Occident of the Yuan, without counting the sporadic mentions of the three companions of the bonze and the birth of Sun Wukong in the Mongolian theater.

Under Ming, before the novel of Wu Cheng' in, there was the four voyages , a whole of four accounts:

  • the Legend of the immortal Eight of the cave of in top of Wu Yuantai, sometimes called Voyage in the East .
  • the Voyage in the South and the Voyage in North of Yu Xiangdou, whose heroes are two divinities taoists.
  • the Voyage in Occident of Yang Zhehe, on the same topic as the famous novel, but less successful.
The novel would have comprised at the beginning only 41 chapters, an about sixty more would have been written later on while being inspired partly by the Voyage in the South . In addition, the text of two chapters is present at little thing near in a Korean collection of Chinese literature and the Grand collection of literature of Yongle which prédatent the novel.

the Voyage in Occident knew two continuations, Suite of the voyage in Occident and Second part of the voyage in Occident . It inspired by many novels: Complement with the Voyage in Occident of Dong Shuo, satirical version anti Manchu, two New Xiyouji of Chen Jing and Tong Enzheng, like Also a voyage in Occident .

Influence

Particularly in China and in Japan, the Voyage in Occident is at the base of a multitude of adaptations: literary continuations and imitations, painted rollers, versions simplified and illustrated for the children, cartoons, theater, Opera of Beijing, television serials or telefilms.

Cinema of animation

It inspired many cartoons, like:

  • the third feature-length film of the history of the cinema in n&b, 1941, which is Chinese.
  • the first feature-length film of Japanese Osamu Tezuka (translated into English by Alakazan the Great).
  • a feature-length film color of the studios of very famous Shanghai in China. Danao Tiangong (大闹天宫, great noise in the palate of the sky, color, 1964)
  • the Japanese series Dragon Ball , freer adaptation of Akira Toriyama.
  • the Japanese animated series Gensômaden Saiyuki (西遊記 romaji : saiyuki, the extreme voyage)
  • the central television of Chinese (CCTV) also left an animated series more faithful to this novel, heading Xiyouji (西遊記).

To also note a free adaptation of the legend in the manga Coils Hina by Ken Akamatsu and the animated series of the same name.

Films and Telefilms

It also inspired by many films, like:

Theater

Illustration

It was recently illustrated by the Chinese painter Wang MeiFang which painted on Soie many famous scenes.

Sun Wukong and to a lesser extent Zhu Bajie are the subject of innumerable graphic uses. A turbulent child can be compared with Sun Wukong, " Zhu Bajie" is a launched mockery with somebody who has just made a boob.

Adaptation

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