The Construction of Xiyouji (西遊記) in the Sinographic Cosmopolis and Beyond

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

In the academic realm Xiyouji, or The Journey to the West, is generally identified with the Shidetang edition of the 100-chapter novel allegedly written by Wu Cheng’en in Ming-China at the end of the 16th century. Yet the popularity of Xiyouji is not based on the 100-chapter novel but on various transformations which were neither restricted to China nor to the Ming-dynasty. This panel sets out to reconsider the construction of Xiyouji. We suggest perceiving Xiyouji not as a graspable static text on which author, place and time of publication can be imposed, but rather as a bundle of characters, motives, themes and discursive threads, which are in ever new combination passed down more or less together as tradition without regard to the boundaries of time periods or national literatures.

Specifically, (1) Hoang Yen Nguyen will discuss Phật Bà Quan Âm truyện 佛婆觀音傳, an early Vietnamese transformation of Xiyouji. (2) Yevheniy Vakhnenko compares two Japanese adaptations of Xiyouji: Tamenaga Shunsui's Fūzoku onna saiyūki 風俗女西遊記 and Takizawa Bakin's Konpirabune rishō no tomozuna 金毘羅船利生纜. (3) Nick Stember will discuss the shifting role of Sun Wukong in comics and animations in China and the USA. (4) Barbara Wall focuses on transformations of Sun Wukong in Korea over eight centuries.

Having invited a discussant in Chinese vernacular literature, we hope to spark a larger discussion about the mutable history of books away from a focus on supposedly stable classic texts which are bound to a specific time period and particular national literature.

Area of Study

• Interarea-Border Crossing

Session Organizer

• Barbara Wall, University of Hamburg

Chair

• Barbara Wall, University of Hamburg

Individual Presentations

• Appropriation of Xiyouji in Vietnam: Tây du truyện 西遊傳 - Hoang Yen Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences & Humanities

• Journey to the West in Early Modern Japan: Tamenaga Shunsui’s Fuzoku Onna Saiyuki - Yevheniy Vakhnenko, University of British Columbia

• Ming Dynasty Looney Tunes: Reading Sun Wukong as Cartoon - Nick Stember, Translator

• Transformations of Sun Wukong in Korea from the 14th Century to Today - Barbara Wall, University of Hamburg

Discussant

• Catherine Swatek, University of British Columbia