Journey to the West in Wisconsin connected teachers and students throughout the state in the study of Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West (trans. Arthur Waley). Also known as Monkey, this sixteenth-century Chinese novel tells the true story of a Tang Dynasty monk, Xuanzang, who travels to India in search of sacred texts. Drawing from Xuanzang’s own account of the pilgrimage, as well as Chinese folk tales and mythology, Journey to the West transports readers into a world of comedy, adventure and spiritual enlightenment.
As they read the novel, students and educators engaged with the teachings of Taoist and Buddhist philosophy, toured the landscapes of the Silk Road, and learned about the shenmo genre. Participants also had the opportunity to read the novel alongside contemporary graphic and dramatic adaptations, including Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese and Mary Zimmerman’s Journey to the West.
Teaching Resources
Teachers participating in the program attended two educator colloquia on September 21 and February 18, featuring talks by campus experts, workshopping activities and discussions, and cultural and curricular presentations. Our participating educators and students joined UW-Madison faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, Center staff and members of the public for the Great World Texts in Wisconsin’s Annual Student Conference on Wednesday, April 20, 2016.
Keynote Speaker: Student Conference and Public Lecture
David Henry Hwang is a Chinese-American and award-winning playwright, described by the New York Times as “a true original” and by TIME magazine as “the first important dramatist of American public life since Arthur Miller.” He is America’s most-produced living opera librettist according to Opera News and is best known as the author of M. Butterfly (1988), which won a Tony Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is also the author of The Lost Empire, a mini-series adaptation of Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West that aired in 2001 on NBC. Hwang met with high school students from across the state at the Great World Texts in Wisconsin program’s Annual Student Conference. He also delivered a public lecture.
Support for Journey to the West in Wisconsin
Journey to the West in Wisconsin was an initiative of the Center for the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, supported by the A. W. Mellon Foundation; the Evjue Foundation; UW-Madison Libraries; the Departments of East Asian Languages and Literature, English and History; the Anonymous Fund of theCollege of Letters & Science; the Wisconsin Humanities Council; andthe Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Supporting Materials
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Historical Background and Contexts
Headnote on Journey to the West. Norton Anthology of World Literature: Volume D. Ed. Martin Puchner, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Wiebke Denecke, Vinay Darwhadker, Barbara Fuchs, Caroline Levine, Pericles Lewis, Emily Wilson. 2012.
John Fairbank and Merle Goldman. “Government in the Ming Dynasty.” China: A New History. 1998.
Sabina Knight. “Vernacular Drama and Fiction: Gardens, Bandits, and Dreams.” A Very Short Introduction to Chinese Literature. 2012.
Rayne Kruger. “The Ming Dynasty in Perspective.” All Under Heaven: A Complete History of China. 2003.
John D. Langlois. “Ming Law.” Cambridge History of China. 1998.
Christine Moll-Murata. “Work Ethics and Work Valuations in a Period of Commercialization: Ming China, 1500-1644.” IRSH 56 (2011).
Andrew H. Plaks. “Journey to the West.” Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective. 1994.
Pauline Yu and Theodore Huters. “The Imaginative Universe of Chinese Literature.” Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective. 1994.
Zuyan Zhou. “Carnivalization in The Journey to the West: Cultural Dialogism in Fictional Festivity.” Chinese Literature. 1994.
Religion
T. H. Barrett. “Religious Traditions in Chinese Civilization: Buddhism and Taoism.” Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization. 1990.
John M. Koller. “Foundations and Transformations of Buddhism: An Overview.”
Taylor Romeyn. “Official Religion in the Ming.” Cambridge History of China. 1998.
Tu Wei-ming. “The Confucian Tradition in Chinese History.” Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization. 1990.
Translation
Esther Allen (ed). “To Be Translated or Not to Be: PEN/IRL Report on the International Situation of Literary Translation.” PEN International. 2007.
Emily Apter. “Introduction.” Against World Literature: On the Politics of Untranslatability. 2013.
Walter Benjamin. “The Task of the Translator.” Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. 1969.
Timothy Billings. “Untranslation Theory: The Nestorian Stele and the Jesuit Illustration of China.” Sinographies: Writing China. Eds. Eric Hayot, Haun Saussy, and Steven G. Yao. 2007.
Jorge Luis Borges. “The Translators of The Thousand and One Nights.” Trans. Esther Allen. The Translation Studies Reader. 2012.
Georg Brandes. “Weltlitteratur.” World Literature: A Reader. 2013.
Andrew H. Plaks. “Journey to the West.” Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective. 1994.
Carlos Rojas. “Western Journeys of Journey to the West.” Sinographies: Writing China. Eds. Eric Hayot, Haun Saussy, and Steven G. Yao. 2007.
Haun Saussy. “Impressions de Chine: or, How to Translate from a Nonexistent Original.” Sinographies: Writing China. Eds. Eric Hayot, Haun Saussy, and Steven G. Yao. 2007
Genre
Peter Brooks. “Reading for the Plot.” Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative. 1984.
Jonathan Culler. “Toward a Theory of Non-Genre Literature.” Theory of the Novel: A Historical Approach. Ed. Michael McKeon. 2000.
Wai Chee Dimock. “Genres as Fields of Knowledge.” PMLA 122.5 (2007).
Northrop Frye. “Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays.” Theory of the Novel: A Historical Approach. Ed. Michael McKeon. 2000.
Sabina Knight. “Poetry and Poetics: Landscapes, Allusions, and Alcohol.” A Very Short Introduction to Chinese Literature. 2012.
Caroline Levine. “The Great Unwritten: World Literature and the Effacement of Orality.” MLQ 74.2 (2013).
Franco Moretti. “Graphs.” Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for Literary History. 2007.
Andrew H. Plaks. “Journey to the West.” Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective. 1994
Humor and Satire
“Ku-chi.” The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature. Ed. William H. Nienhauser, Jr. 1986.
Richard A. Gardner. “Buddhism.” Encyclopedia of Humor Studies. Ed. Salvatore Attardo. 2014.
Karin Myhre. “Wit and Humor.” The Columbia History of Chinese Literature. Ed. Victor H. Mair. 2001.
Dennis Sibley. “The Laughing Buddha: Humor and Spiritual Life.
Travel Writing
James S. Fu. “Cyclic Quest: The Pilgrimage.” Mythic and Comic Aspects of the Quest. 1977.
Xinru Liu. “China Looks West.” The Silk Road in World History. 2010
Bodies and Monstrosity
Michael Bérubé. “Disability and Narrative.” PMLA 120.2 (2005).
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson. “From Wonder to Error–A Genealogy of Freak Discourse in Modernity.” Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body. 1996.
Michael J. Stolzfus and Darla Y. Schumm. “Beyond Models: Some Tentative Daoist Contribution to Disability Studies.”
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Participating Schools
In 2015-16, 23 high schools and more than 65 educators from around the state participated in Journey to the West in Wisconsin program.
- Baraboo High School, BARABOO
- Bay Port High School, GREEN BAY
- Big Foot High School, WALWORTH
- Bonduel High School, BONDUEL
- Clark Street Community School, MIDDLETON
- Cochrane-Fountain City School, FOUNTAIN CITY
- Community High School, MILWAUKEE
- Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah High School, ELKHART LAKE
- Kohler High School, KOHLER
- Lodi High School, LODI
- Madison Country Day School, MIDDLETON
- Madison East High School, MADISON
- Milwaukee High School of the Arts, MILWAUKEE
- Necedah Area High School, NECEDAH
- New Horizons Charter School, MILWAUKEE
- Oshkosh North High School, OSHKOSH
- Oshkosh West High School, OSHKOSH
- Osseo-Fairchild High School, OSSEO
- Prescott High School, PRESCOTT
- Rock University High School, JANESVILLE
- Southern Door High School, APPLETON
- St. Francis Xavier High School, APPLETON
- Washington High School, MILWAUKEE