本书借隋末大将军李靖和杨素家妓红拂的风流韵事为蓝本,以现代人的眼光去观照历史,表现知识分子在反智社会中的尴尬处境。在历史与现实,虚幻与真实的纷繁交错中,小说看似荒诞,却处处体现着对现实的反讽,对自由、趣味的向往。正如王小波在序言中所言:“我写的是内心而不是外形,是神似而不是形似。” Based on the romantic affair of Li Jing, the general in late Sui dynasty, and Hong Fu, the courtesan in the house of Yang Su, the author sees history with the modern perspective, showing the embarrassing situation of intellectuals in the anti-intellectual society. Between history and reality, illusion and truth, the seemingly absurd novel reflects the irony towards reality and longing for freedom and fun. Just as Wang Xiaobo wrote in the preface, "What I wrote is innermost being not the appearance, and it is similar in spirit not in form."
Wang was born in an intellectual family in Beijing in 1952. He was sent to a farm in Yunnan province as an "intellectual youth" at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1968. In 1971, he was sent to the countryside of Shandong province, and became a teacher. In 1972, he was allowed to return to Beijing, and he got a job as a working in a local factory. He met Li Yinhe in 1977, who was working as an editor for "Guangming Daily", and she later became his wife. He was accepted by Renmin University of China in 1978 where he studied economics and trade and got his Bachelor's Degree. He received his Master's Degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1988. After he returned to China, he began to teach at Peking University and Renmin University of China. He quit his job as a college lecturer in 1992, and became a freelance writer. On April 11, 1997 he died suddenly of heart disease at his apartment.