二十世紀的《西遊記》批評史環繞在故事系列之寓言性質的爭辯。在文本根據缺乏進一步的證據,及把《西遊記》視為多重涵義故事的批評日益增多的情況下,早期的《西遊記》評點如今越發有意義。第一本主要的評點《西遊証道書》深入主張對《西遊記》作寓言式的閱讀,但卻使用了兩個表面上看來互不相容的原始文本:張伯端的《悟真篇》及金聖嘆的《水滸傳》評點。《西遊証道書》對這些原始文本有不同程度的依賴,並經由使用真與假的相對語提供了終極的可相容性。這些用語的意義與指涉及其相互補足性在評點中有不同的解讀,但是作為表意的流動詩學(fluid poetics),真的概念為成道之我的寓言式的依賴,及因之而生的由讀書而成道的概念,建立了堅實的基礎。嗣後對於真及其相互補足的用語,例如在《紅樓夢》中發現的,可能是由《西遊証道書》的成道架構獲得有力的貢獻。
The history of criticism of Xiyou ji (Journey to the West) throughout the twentieth century has been a debate over the nature of the allegory of the story cycle. Without more evidence on the foundation of the text and a growing criticism of Xiyou ji as a multivalent story, the early commentaries on Xiyou ji are now more relevant. The first major commentary, Xiyou zhengdao shu (The book to enlightenment of the journey west) argues in depth for an allegorical reading of Xiyou ji, but employs tools from two ostensibly incompatible source texts, the Wuzhen pian (On apprehending completion) by Zhang Boduan and the commentary of Shuihu zhuan (Account of the water margin) by Jin Shengtan. The commentary reveals its varied reliance upon these sources and provides for an eventual compatibility by the usage of the paired terms for the genuine (zhen) and the counterfeit (jia). The meanings and references of these terms and even the complementarity itself are read variously in the commentary, but taken as a fluid poetics of signification, the idea of the genuine establishes a solid foundation of the allegorical reliance on a transformable self and hence an idea of reading for personal transformation. Subsequent uses of the terms for the genuine and its complement, such as found in Honglou meng (Dream of red mansions) may have received a telling contribution from the transformational framework of Xiyou zhengdao shu.