Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time, joins John and Andy for a tour of Monkey King: Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en, the sixteenth-century fable widely regarded as one of the most important Chinese novels ever written, newly translated by Julia Lovell. The Monkey King's powers include shape-shifting, immortality and "being incredibly rude"; listeners of a certain age will be familiar with his legendary exploits - and those of his travelling companions Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka - from the 1980s cult TV series Monkey, a staple of BBC2's week-night schedule. The book itself is a hugely entertaining combination of action caper, farce and religious allegory, analogous in some ways to The Pilgrim's Progress but with a lot more jokes and fighting. We throughly enjoyed chatting with Kaliane about Monkey King, her own writing and also her day job as an editor at Penguin Classics and we think you will feel the Monkey Magic too. All together now: "the spirit of Monkey was irrepressible!"

Books mentioned
Wu Cheng'en - Monkey King: Journey to the West (translated by Julia Lovell)
Wu Cheng’en - Monkey King Makes Havoc in Heaven (Penguin Archive)
Kaliane Bradley - The Ministry of Time
Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quixote (translated by Edith Grossman)
John Bunyan - The Pilgrim's Progress
Jay Griffiths - Nemesis, My Friend

Other links
Watch Monkey
Journey to the West (soundtrack by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett)
Penguin Archive - 90 classic titles celebrating 90 years