A new translation of this fabulous C16th Chinese work – a wild epic, an outrageous satire, and surely one of the most exuberant works of literature the world has ever known. Based on the monk Hsuan Tsang/Xuanzang’s C7th travels to India in search of Buddhist texts overlaid with colourful folk tales and dramas, its protagonist is a monkey, voracious for life, disruptive, immoral and – having devoured the celestial Jade Empress’s peachs – immortal. His redemption can only be obtained by travelling to the west as the monk’s protector.
