Charting newer heights

Su Tong must have been born to write, says his friend Wang Gan, who waited seven years to edit his "best work" - The Boat to Redemption. The novel carries all the iconic "Su's images and symbols" - river, childhood, death and castration, which appeared in his former works, Wang says in an e-mail interview.

The two first met in 1986 and later worked for a literary magazine in the same office. As early as 1987, the year in which Su thinks his career as a writer really began, Wang published an analysis titled Su Tong: Sailing in the River of Images - the first literary commentary on Su in China.

In the academic circle, Su is regarded as one of the contemporary "avant-garde writers" together with Hong Feng, Yu Hua, Ma Yuan, Ge Fei and others. Their works appeared in the 1980s challenging readers with breakthroughs in the form of narration. Critics say these writers have been experimenting with new ideas and some of their works are now being considered classics.