On 16 October, we listened to the lecture "Journey to the West" from the lecture series Great Classical Chinese Novels, given by Balys Astrauskas, a junior assistant professor, lecturer and PhD student at the VU Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies.
It is one of the most famous pre-modern fictional novels, influenced by Chinese mythology and perhaps the most influential and applicable in popular culture.
At the beginning of the lecture, the speaker highlighted the differences between this work and other classical works, and the novel, which is set outside of China (in India), is often referred to as a transcultural work.
Later in the lecture, the authorship of the work was discussed, which belongs to Wu Cheng'en 吳承恩 (1500-1582 or 1505-1580), which confirms the maturity of Chinese literature and elevates it to another level.
It is a large work of 100 chapters, published in 1592.The Journey to the West is notable for the fact that there is only one version of the novel, and it is fully in line with the author's intentions, so there is no problem with different editions. Most of the text is in prose, with poetry inserted in places to describe certain characters. Compared to other works, the use of poetry here is very original. This novel belongs to the shenmo 神魔小说 genre of fantasy or gods and demons pre-modern literature.
B. Astrauskas then briefly introduced the plot of the novel - the places, circumstances and main characters. The work tells the story of a Buddhist monk 唐三藏 and his extraordinary disciples: the most useful character, the monkey Sun Wukong 孙悟空, the pig Zhu Bajie 猪八戒 and žmogėdros沙悟净nuotykius. Characters such as King Bull 牛魔王 and his wife Bodhisattva Guan Yin 觀音 appear in the novel, as well as the novel's demons. The heroes of the work struggle against them until harmony is restored and the journey continues.
Some of the novel's plots have been turned into operas, such as The Great Ape Uprising. The first Chinese animated film, The Princess's Iron Fan, was made in 1941 by Tie Shan Gongzhu 鐵扇公主. Later, in 1964, another full-length animated 3-hour film, Danao Tiangong 大闹天宫, was made, which is still very popular in China today. Numerous cinematic versions of the work have been made, and the computer game BLACK MYTH: WUKONG was created in 2024 to worldwide acclaim.
At the end of the lecture, the speaker pointed out that with the appearance of this work, it can be said that from the 16th century onwards, Chinese auteur literature appeared. "Journey to the West is one of the most widely adapted and exploited works of Chinese artistic heritage, which has had a profound impact not only on Chinese cultural life, but also on the entire Asian region, such as the birth of the character of Son Goku in Japan.