Cavalry

Author: Su Tong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: Su Tong's works feature vivid and intricate plots, fluent language, delicate writing, and subtle philosophical insights, making them ideal for leisure reading after meals. Su Tong's Horse Cavalry sets the story in a place he is familiar with: Xiangchun Street. This location, already a "hometown" in Su Tong's novels, gains a new odd character, Zuo Lin. Like Helifa in Shi Shuqing's novel, Zuo Lin is also a child with severe leg disabilities. However, his bowlegs are not congenital but a result of his childhood obsession with horseback riding. In Su Tong's recent short story experiments, he consistently captures the common yet rare techniques of the short story—highlighting a central image that influences the story and its themes. This image can be a physical object or an inescapable, stubborn idea. Zuo Lin's intense fantasy of galloping on horseback is a prime example. Unable to realize his dream of riding, Zuo Lin transfers this desire into riding others. After multiple failed attempts, he uses deception and threats to make the fool Guangchun his mount. In the latter part of the novel, a absurd scene unfolds when Zuo Lin's lies are exposed. The fool Guangchun, backed by his grandmother's authority, gains a chance for revenge, riding Zuo Lin through Xiangchun Street with relish. Left helpless, Zuo Lin's father endures his son's misfortune, forcing Zuo Lin to watch Guangchun riding his father with excitement on the streets. He cried, but it was not so much regret for his own mistakes and consequences as it was envy seeing his own ideals realized in someone else. At the end of the novel, a crying Zuo Lin's mind conjures a scene: himself riding a white horse, "like an arrow shooting toward the dark night sky."