Pure Dimension

Liang Qichao's writing of a preface over 50,000 words long for Jiang Baili's 50,000-word History of the European Renaissance has become a literary anecdote. Similarly, Ma Jun's nearly 80,000-word commentary on Li Wanhua's essay collection of over 110,000 words demonstrates a remarkable parallelism. The commentator truly understands both the author and the work, analyzing it with the precision of a butcher dissecting a cow and inspecting it with the clarity of an MRI scan, uncovering many textual characteristics that the author themselves may not have been aware of. Insights such as poetic quality, literary essence, note-taking style, inspiration, quirkiness, and refinement are all to the point, delving into the depths and revealing what others have not seen. This commentary is not only precise and well-argued but also written with an elegance reminiscent of classical Chinese prose. Written in the form of a letter, it adds a sense of warmth and intimacy, resembling the earnest advice of an elder brother to his younger sister. The numerous quotations used freely throughout the text demonstrate the author's erudition and knowledge.