The New Lifetime Reading Plan

king of the monkeys in the Ramayana [15]. Tales of the Monkey King seem to have arrived in China from нndia with the introduction of Buddhism in the first century c.e., but in germinal form, later to be much embroidered and elaborated by Chinese storytellers.

In the opening chapters of Journey to the West, the monkey Sun Wu-k'ung is born when a huge stone magically splits open and the young monkey emerges into the world. Monkey, ener- getic and curious, immediately begins to make mischief. In his early adventures he steals a magical iron cudgel from the Dragon King at the bottom of the ocean, insults the Jade Emperor of Heaven, and installs himself as King of the Monkeys in the land of Fruit and Flower Mountain. But soon Hsьan-tsang (in the story usually called by his Buddhist name, Tripitaka) leaves on his journey to нndia, and Kuan-yin, the goddess of mercy, assigns Monkey the task of helping him on his way. The main part of the book consists of dozens of episodes of Hsьan-tsang being attacked, bewitched, led into trackless deserts, or otherwise finding himself in dire straits, always to be rescued from his predicament by Monkey and his companions. It is ali marvelous fun, and it continues to enchant: A Chinese television series of episodes from Journey to the West produced in the 1980S became an enormous popu­lar success.

Wu Cfreng-en^ novel clearly is grounded in an oral tradi- tion, and it really demands the kind of leisurely presentation that oral narration imposes on a story. It doesn't necessarily lend itself to the kind of straight-through assault that is the modern approach to reading a book. I would recommend that you start with Arthur Waley's wonderfully translated and greatly condensed version, published under the title Monkey; later on spend some time at least browsing in Anthony Yu's masterful complete translation, published as Journey to the West by the University of Chicago Press.

J.S.M.

MICHEL EYQUEM DE MONTAIGNE

1533-1592

Selected Essays

Many names on our list are far greater than Montaigne's. But the view of life he represents is so deeply rooted in many of us that, while more powerful minds retain interest only for schol- ars, he will continue to capture the attention of the average intelligent reader. He appeals to that part of us more fasci- nated by the questions than by the answers.

Montaigne, one of the pioneers of modern French prose, was of good merchant-family stock. On his mothers side he was partly Jewish. Apparently there was sufficient money in the family to permit him on his thirty-eighth birthday to semi- retire to his round tower on the family property. In a period when educational experimentation was generally popular, his own education was unusual. Until he was six he spoke only Latin. He tells us that he was awakened each morning by "the sound of a musical instrument,^,> an anticipation of our clock rбdios. He studied law, occupied a magistrate^ seat in the Bordeaux parliament, served in various capacities under three French kings, and during his later years wasted some of his genius on a job, the mayoralty of Bordeaux, fit only for medioc- rity. His real life is preserved in his Essays. Of these there are 107, if we include the book-lengtji Apology for Raymond Sebond. As far as we can determine, they were written, and rewritten, from his thirty-ninth year, after he had withdrawn to a life of tranquil study and contemplation, to the year of his death.

As he says in his preliminary word to the reader, they were composed not for fame, favor, or fortune, but merely to por- tray himself, in ali candor and indiscretion. For this purpose he invented a new form of literature, as important in its way as the internai combustion engine, and far more pleasant. The

French word essai means literally a trial or attempt. Each essay is a trial of the content of his mind, an attempt to find out what is there so that, though he may know nothing else, he may at least know himself.

Montaigne's essays are not like those we find in our better magazines today. They are formless, they rarely stick to the announced subject, and they are chock-full of classical quota- tions; for Montaigne, in addition to being a man of practical affairs, was a learned humanist. The modern reader may at first find these obstacles irritating.