''Griever: An American Monkey King in China'' is a 1986 novel by

Gerald Vizenor Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and ...

. It won the 1986 New York Fiction Collective Award and the 1988

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

."Gerald Vizenor", ''Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature'', by Jennifer McClinton-Temple and Alan R. Velie, Facts on File, 2007, pp.376-378 The book is important both because it establishes the

trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...

figure of Griever de Hocus, whom Vizenor had created in his 1985 story "Luminous Thighs" and whom he would use again in '' The Trickster of Liberty'', and because Vizenor takes Native American stories and themes outside the Americas and into

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, establishing a connection to Chinese trickster figures, most notably Sun Wukong the Monkey King."Griever: An American Monkey King in China", ''Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature'', by Jennifer McClinton-Temple, Alan R. Velie, Facts on File, 2007, pp.152-153. Based partly on Vizenor's own experiences as a visiting professor in China, the novel follows mixedblood Griever de Hocus as he takes up a teaching position in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

. While there, Griever makes numerous connections between Native American history and the

neocolonialism Neocolonialism is the continuation or reimposition of imperialist rule by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony). Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism, ...

he sees occurring in communist China; for instance, by giving his pet rooster the name Matteo Ricci, Vizenor connects the Westernization process in China with the political and religious colonization of the Americas. Along the way, Griever casts himself as a modern Monkey King, proclaiming liberation to the Chinese and joining up with modernized versions of the Monkey King's companions.

References

1986 novels Novels by Gerald Vizenor Native American novels Works based on Journey to the West Novels set in Tianjin American Book Award-winning works {{1980s-novel-stub