Who Wrote The Investiture Of The Gods Originally?

I'm kind of picky about translations, so I look at this from two angles: literal faithfulness and reading pleasure. The most recognizable English rendering of '封神演義' is 'Investiture of the Gods', and I usually recommend that title when talking to people who want a translation that feels close to the original's mythic and bureaucratic tone. That said, translations labeled 'Creation of the Gods' or simply using the pinyin 'Fengshen Yanyi' also show up, and sometimes the choice of title hints at how the translator approached the text—more scholarly or more literary. If you want the clearest practical advice: hunt for a complete and annotated edition (often in university press or academic printings) if your priority is fidelity and historical context. If you just want the wild, larger-than-life battles and characters with smoother modern English, a retelling or abridged translation will be more enjoyable. I also like reading a bilingual edition or parallel text when possible—having the Chinese on one side and the English on the other feels like wearing two pairs of reading glasses that let you switch lenses as needed. Whenever I dive into a translation, I pair it with summaries or character charts because the roster of gods, demons, and mortals explodes quickly and footnotes save me from getting lost. Ultimately, the "best" translation depends on what you want: scholarship, story, or accessibility. For my book-club nights I choose readability; for deep dives I go academic. If you tell me whether you prefer literal accuracy or a thrilling read, I can narrow down suggestions and where to search for editions.

I get a little giddy thinking about how far the ripples from 'Investiture of the Gods' spread. On the most literal level, the book itself is usually credited to Xu Zhonglin (with Lu Xixing often named as a reviser or co-author in some editions), so those two are the origin point — the ones who stitched together folk tales, prophetic lore, and court satire into that sprawling pantheon. But if you look at the next couple of centuries, a whole ecosystem of storytellers and dramatists picked up its scenes and characters and ran with them. Folktale collectors and Qing storytellers like Feng Menglong and storytellers who fed into Kunqu and later Peking opera borrowed episodes and character-types freely. Pu Songling’s 'Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio' isn’t a retelling of 'Investiture of the Gods', but you can see the same supernatural vocabulary — gods, spirits, vengeance, moral justice — echoing through his weird tales. Fast forward to modern times and the influence becomes cultural background rather than direct sourcing: novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters tap the same myths. I often notice wuxia writers and contemporary fantasy authors folding Nezha, Jiang Ziya, or Daji into their moral frameworks or worldbuilding — sometimes as homage, sometimes as sharp reinvention. So while Xu Zhonglin and Lu Xixing are the book’s authors, the people inspired by it include a long list of later storytellers — Qing-era collectors and dramatists, modern novelists who use mythic motifs, and countless anonymous folk-adapters. Every time a new retelling or TV series breathes life into Nezha or Jiang Ziya, it’s another author picking at the same rich seam that 'Investiture of the Gods' opened up, and I love seeing the new spins.