The Monkey King Makes Fire on Black Wind Mountain

One of the world's greatest fantasy novels, and a timeless classic of Chinese literature<BR><BR>One of China's Four Great Classical Novels, Monkey King was written anonymously during the Ming dynasty and is most commonly attributed to Wu Cheng'en, the son of a silk-shop clerk from east China. It recounts a Tang-dynasty monk's quest for Buddhist scriptures, accompanied by an omni-talented kung-fu Monkey King called Sun Wukong; a rice-loving divine pig; and a depressive man-eating river-sand monster.<BR><BR>Comparable to The Canterbury Tales or Don Quixote, the tale is at once a comic adventure story, a humorous satire of Chinese bureaucracy, a spring of spiritual insight and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeys towards enlightenment.

A collectible hardcover edition of one of the all-time great fantasy novels—which Neil Gaiman has said “is in the DNA of 1.5 billion people”—in an acclaimed one-volume translation, and featuring an illustrated foreword by the author of the New York Times bestselling graphic novel that is the basis for the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, starring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu<BR><BR>A Penguin Vitae Edition<BR><BR> Before there was The Lord of the Rings, there was China’s Monkey King. The title character, also known as Sun Wukong, is a shape-shifting trickster on a kung-fu quest for eternal life, and is beloved by fans of the most popular anime of all time, Dragon Ball, and the world’s largest e-sport, the video game League of Legends. For raiding Heaven’s Orchard of Immortal Peaches, the Buddha pins him beneath a mountain and frees him only five hundred years later. To redeem himself, our irrepressible rogue hero has to protect the pious monk Tripitaka on his fourteen-year journey to India in search of precious Buddhist sutras. Accompanied by two other fallen immortals—Pigsy, a rice-loving pig able to fly with its ears, and Sandy, a depressive man-eating river-sand monster—Monkey King undergoes eighty-one trials, doing battle with all manner of dragons, ogres, wizards, and femmes fatales in this rollicking adventure that not only stands as the most popular of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature but also gave us one of the most memorable superheroes in world literature.<BR><BR>Penguin Vitae—loosely translated as “Penguin of one’s life”—is a deluxe hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books<BR><BR>Wu Cheng'en's 16th-century novel Journey to the West is widely regarded as one of the most important Chinese novels ever written. Here, in Julia Lovell's witty and charismatic translation, we meet one of its heroes: Sun Wukong, or Monkey King, whose powers include shape-shifting, immortality and being incredibly rude. Though he rises to a position of power in the heavenly bureaucracy, Monkey King's arrogant exploits attract the attention of the Buddha - with very unfortunate consequences.

In The Monkey King Makes Fire on Black Wind Mountain, Wukong (the Monkey King) vows to help a Buddhist monk who rescued him from prison. But when they travel to India on a quest for the Chinese emperor, the journey looks hopeless-especially when they run into thieves and murderers and demons....<BR>The Monkey King is no ordinary fellow. His personality is a unique blend of strengths and flaws. Monkey is brave, fun-loving, and clever, as well as unpredictable, reckless, and sometimes ferocious. <BR>No matter where he goes, the Monkey King is an unforgettable character with a knack for getting himself into trouble. <BR>Stories in this series, The Irrepressible Monkey King, are based on the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. The novel was inspired by the writings of a real 7th-century Buddhist monk who traveled from China to India and back. Mingling fantasy with historical accounts, Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. <BR>Advisory: Though shortened from the original, these stories reflect life and perspectives from ancient China and other cultures. Some of the ideas and attitudes may be unfamiliar to an English-language audience.

In The Monkey King Converts to Buddhism, Wukong (Monkey King) has made a mess of the Jade Emperor's throne room and tried to take the throne. When Buddha Tathagata arrives to help the Emperor get rid of him, the Monkey King shows off his powers to impress the Buddha. But Wukong's demonstration backfires and he is trapped with no hope of escape ever ... unless a monk comes to his aid.<BR>The Monkey King is no ordinary fellow. His personality is a unique blend of strengths and flaws. Monkey is brave, fun-loving, and clever, as well as unpredictable, reckless, and sometimes ferocious. <BR>No matter where he goes, the Monkey King is an unforgettable character with a knack for getting himself into trouble. <BR>Stories in this series, The Irrepressible Monkey King, are based on the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. The novel was inspired by the writings of a real 7th-century Buddhist monk who traveled from China to India and back. Mingling fantasy with historical accounts, Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. <BR>Advisory: Though shortened from the original, these stories reflect life and perspectives from ancient China and other cultures. Some of the ideas and attitudes may be unfamiliar to an English-language audience.

In The Monkey King Wreaks Havoc in Heaven, Wukong (the Monkey King) teaches his subjects martial arts and realizes that his kingdom has almost no weapons. When he visits the Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean, our hero finds just what he is looking for, but something goes very wrong.... <BR>The Monkey King is no ordinary fellow. His personality is a unique blend of strengths and flaws. Monkey is brave, fun-loving, and clever, as well as unpredictable, reckless, and sometimes ferocious. <BR>No matter where he goes, the Monkey King is an unforgettable character with a knack for getting himself into trouble. <BR>Stories in this series, The Irrepressible Monkey King, are based on the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. The novel was inspired by the writings of a real 7th-century Buddhist monk who traveled from China to India and back. Mingling fantasy with historical accounts, Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. <BR>Advisory: Though shortened from the original, these stories reflect life and perspectives from ancient China and other cultures. Some of the ideas and attitudes may be unfamiliar to an English-language audience.