The anonymous master behind China's greatest legend may have been a failed official
In short: For centuries, the identity of the author of Journey to the West remained a mystery. While many credit the Ming dynasty writer Wu Cheng'en, scholars still debate whether he truly penned the masterpiece or simply curated the folk legends that defined an era of Chinese literature.
Wu Cheng'en, a man whose life spanned roughly from 1500 to 1582, lived a life of contradictions. A failed candidate for the imperial examinations, he struggled to secure a permanent position as a mandarin. Although he eventually held posts in Beijing and Changxing County, he reportedly disliked the bureaucracy and eventually resigned to live a more hermit-like existence in his hometown of Lianshui.
His literary legacy is defined by a departure from convention. During the Ming dynasty, elite literary circles favored the classical styles of the Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties. Wu, however, chose to write in the vernacular tongue. This choice, along with the era's view of fiction as 'vulgar' literature, likely contributed to the anonymous publication of Journey to the West in 1592.
The attribution of the novel to Wu is not without scholarly contention. In the early 20th century, the scholar Hu Shih used 17th-century records to suggest Wu as the author. However, critics like David Lattimore note that while a 1625 gazetteer links Wu to a work called 'The Journey to the West,' it does not explicitly confirm it was a novel. Furthermore, some scholars argue the work might be a compilation of existing folk tales rather than a purely original creation.
Despite the uncertainty, Wu's surviving poetry reveals a 'defiant spirit' and a sharp critique of social corruption. Unlike his more fantastical contemporaries, Wu took pride in writing about the 'foibles of men,' grounding his prose in the worldly realities of the human condition.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Wu Cheng'en
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