Seems like Journey to the West is referenced and copied so much in Eastern cultures without any fear of it getting old or going stale.
Is there something similar for Westerners? Is there some Shakespearean story we keep re-imagining again and again without shame?
The Odyssey is copied in form all the time. It’s not always referenced as directly, but virtually any adventure story made from a western perspective includes some elements of The Odyssey in a similar manner to how virtually all Eastern adventure stories include some elements of Journey to the West.
I’m very happy to be wrong.
Could you give me some examples? as I think that the strokes are just so broad it’s more archetypal journey story than Odyssey in particular to me.
That’s the thing, though, in western literary culture an archetypal journey story is the Odyssey. The Odyssey is just so old and was so important in Hellenic culture (which became the basis for most of Western culture) that all journey stories after The Odyssey were heavily influenced by it in one way or another.
Over Jason and the Argonauts, or Tale of Perseus?
I guess they’re less famous, and maybe I’m just being nit-picky. I’d rather just put them all as one level below ur-journey tale.