I ask this because everywhere I look him up people are pretty careful to say stuff like "a legendary character best known for appearing in Journey to the West" instead of "a character from Journey to the West". Yet, every info on him seems to be taken specifically from Journey to the West, I haven't found any story about him that predates the book.
Is this a situation like with some greek characters like Odysseus, where, Homer didn't invent the character, the Odyssey is simply recounting already existing myths about him? (At least, that's what I understand about the Odyssey, If I'm wrong about this, please let me know)
Mind you, I'm not asking whether Sun Wukong has similar textual predecessors, like other legendary monkeys that Wu Cheng'en might have drawn from.
i'm asking whether a Chinese man in 1592 would pick up the hot new NYT bestseller and think "Oh, Sun Wukong, yes I know that guy."
And if he did, what would he know of him?
Hello! Journey to the West historian here. Sun Wukong predates the standard 1592 edition of JTTW by several hundred years. For example, here is the earliest printed edition of the story cycle from the 13th-century. You'll notice he is called the "Monkey Pilgrim" instead of Sun Wukong. (The oldest source I know of with that name is an early-Ming zaju play that predates the standard edition.) This early character has a lot in common with Daoist immortals, and he fights with two staves, a golden-ringed monk's staff and an iron staff. These were later combined into his infamous As-You-Will Gold-Banded Staff. The oldest poem mentioning is from circa 1125, and one piece of cave art is from the 11th-century. I hope this helps.