Monkey

“Mr. Waley has done a remarkable job with this translation.” — New York Times

“The irreverent spirit and exuberant vitality of its portraiture…make it an entertainment to which Mr. Waley’s witty translation has obviously contributed not a little.” —Times (London)

“There is nothing quite like Monkey in Western literature. Imagine a combination of picaresque novel, fairy tale, fabliau, Mickey Mouse, Davy Crockett, and Pilgrim’s Progress; and then image if you can all these elements welded into an artistic whole so that no matter how fantastic the adventure or how enigmatic the allegory, the characterization and meaning remain always human and realizable.” —Nation

“Told with immense gusto and, quite apart from its deeper meaning and wise proverbial sayings, it is full of entertainment.” —Manchester Guardian

“Kenneth Williams—best known from the British Carry On films—gives an extravagantly theatrical performance of Waley’s adaptation of a Chinese classic, matching the fantastic world of the story, filled with Chinese deities and monsters and Monkey’s larger-than-life shenanigans. Williams provides many character voices, some rather silly, rolls his r’s, exclaims, declaims, and verbally ‘carries on,’ but avoids going over the top by changing to a sedate narration at well-chosen intervals. He fills China with an assortment of British class and regional accents, but it works…It’s a bravura performance of a delightful text; Naxos deserves thanks for making a great listening pleasure available again. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” —AudioFile