Monkey (Arthur Waley Translation)
Published in 1942 by British scholar Arthur Waley, this abridged translation was the first version of Journey to the West to gain widespread popularity in the English-speaking world and was honored with the James Tate Black Memorial Prize.
Arthur Waley's abridged translation, Monkey (1942), is one of the most influential versions in the history of Journey to the West's dissemination throughout the English-speaking world. Waley carefully selected thirty chapters from the original hundred, translating them in a nearly complete manner, omitting only a large portion of the poetry. The prose is fluid and vivid, portraying Sun Wukong as a vibrant and comedic protagonist—so much so that the book was titled simply Monkey, omitting Tripitaka entirely. Upon its publication in Britain in 1942, the translation was awarded the James Tate Black Memorial Prize, and the poet Edith Sitwell praised it as a "masterpiece of perfect tone." For several decades thereafter, it remained the primary gateway for Western readers to discover Journey to the West, exerting a lasting influence on both Sinological research and popular culture.