MDMD Journey to the West (341.1)

[Doug Millison]

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9711&msg=21479&sort=date
Date:	Tue, 18 Nov 1997 22:18:37 -0800
To:	pynchon-l@[omitted]
From:	millison@[omitted] (Doug Millison)
Subject: MDMD (11) Journey to the West


It may not carry any significance, but the capitalization makes it hard not
to notice "Journey to the West" at 341.1. "The Journey to the West" is also
the title of a classic 16th century Chinese novel (Xi You Ji, in standard
pin yin romanization).

In Chapter 34, this Journey to the West takes Mason and perhaps Dixon to
the site of the masscre.

For those of you who may not be familiar with this wonderful work, the
Chinese novel finds its historical roots in the journey of the monk Xuan
Zang (596-664) who first brought Buddhist scripture from India back to
China. In the novel, the monk is accompanied by Sun Wu Kung, the Monkey
King (a great trickster figure; his weapon of choice is a cudgel that he
can shrink to the size of a pin or expand infinitely; he can also leap
amazing distances, and can transform himself into an infinite number of
forms) and Zhu Ba Jie the pig (personification of sloth, gluttony, and the
rest of the sensual appetites), the Blue-Faced Monk, and a magic horse.

The novel is basically a series of encounters with various magicians,
monsters, demons (including the infamous White-Boned Demon, a nickname for
Jiang Qing -- Madame Mao, leader of the Gang of Four) mad monks, and so on;
they usually get in trouble because of Pig's appetites (perhaps a parallel
with Dixon there, another fictional character who can't resist the pull of
his sensual appetites); Xuan Zang whimpers a lot (perhaps not quite as
melancholy as Mason, but there's a certain fatalism to his Buddhist
belief); and Sun Wu Kung pulls them out of the fire with his magical
powers. It's a marvelous novel, available in a lively translation (four
volumes) by Anthony C. Yu, University of Chicago Press, 1977.

You can still visit the Great Wild Goose Pagada which was built to house
the Buddhist scriptures that Xuan Zang brought back to Changan (present-day
Xian), the capital of China at that time, (the Chinese end of the Silk
Road, too). (I don't know if the actual scriptures are still there or not.)
When I lived in Xian for several months in 1986, you could climb the
winding staircase to the top of the rather tall tower for a great view of
the city and the surrounding countryside, then buy all manner of cold soda
pop and Sun Wu Kung and Xuan Zang memorabila in the park surrounding the
pagoda.

The Journey to the West has also been turned into a TV series that plays
constantly in the PRC, and is occasionally broadcast on the local Chinese
TV station here in the SF Bay Area. There are also adaptations of the books
and various of its episodes for children, comic books, etc. -- it's a key
element of Chinese literary and popular culture, in the PRC and among the
overseas Chinese. Sun Wu Kong is commonly seen in TV, magazine, newspaper,
and billboard ads in China, but they haven't yet managed to smooth out the
attitude (one well-known part of his story  is the time when he ate all the
Jade Emperor's immortal peaches, got drunk as a skunk and raised hell in
heaven). He can kick Mickey Mouse's butt any day.