The Winter Pony (review)
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Captain Scott’s famous and doomed expedition to the South Pole in 1910–1913 has received all kinds of literary treatments from all kinds of perspectives; here, however, is a new one, the story of his journey from the viewpoint of James Pigg, one of the Russian ponies used by the expedition to carry loads along the route. Third-person accounts of the competing and victorious Norwegian Amundsen expedition and additional elements of Scott’s experience fill in the picture as the ponies meet Scott’s men, travel down to Antarctica, and experience the strange and difficult life there. The skilled hand of the veteran author turns this into a deeply poignant tale of ponies and men who met their ends in the frozen and unforgiving South. James Pigg has a childlike and humble view, responding with devotion [End Page 261] to the kindness of the explorers, hoping to please his handler, and facing his fate mostly with sad acceptance. Without taking a stand for or against Scott’s use of ponies, Lawrence makes it intensely clear, in a way even classic accounts don’t manage to convey so vividly, just how dangerous, risky, and effortful every step of the journey was; the fondness of the pony-handling explorers for their charges is an understandable feeling of comradeship painfully complicated by foreknowledge of the ponies’ fate. The book changes a few factual details, but the point here isn’t exact historical fidelity but an heroic tragedy seen by one of its most unassuming participants. While the title and pony-faced cover may lead unwary horse lovers into heartbreak, it’s adventure-story buffs who will really appreciate this moving tale. A concluding note gives a little more background on the genesis of the story.
