The book Anti-tune written by Li Wei is works of genius. It is somewhat trendy and cynical. His mother， Cao Youfang， was a famous and beautiful writer in Taiwan during the 1970s and 1980s. He moved to America when he was 15 and grew up there. Yu Guangzhong considered him to be an outstanding booklover， while Xia Zhiqing said from the times of Plato and Aristotle to the 20th century， he had never seen a Chinese youth who has read so many masterpieces about ideology of countries such as Britain， America， etc. as well as Eastern and Northern Europe. In addition， Li Wei is said to spend all his living expenses buying books， and now his room is full of them， some of which are out of print. “If only my mom had not passed away and leaved me a legacy”， as a booklover， Li Wei talked about his writing frankly， “I would not have devoted myself to writing and just write for writing itself.” Scholars are likely to fall into the pursuit of pureness. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why this book is called Anti-tune.
　　In his book， he talked about Emil Cioran， Theodore Gericault， Schultz， H. L. Mencken， Satie， Julio Cortázar， Daguerre， Pérec， Richter， Bernhard， etc. All of them were of great value but ignored in the history of art， literature and music. They are from a solitary Argentina esthetician to a gifted young poet in Vienna， from a depressed French word-player to a German painter who was expert in gray tone， and from a negative Polish writer to an Austrian man with sharp tongue and being good at getting opponents angry， etc. Some of them acted cautiously， while others were flighty， humble or tricky， but all of them were talented with distinct personality. In Postscript， Li Wei explains the reason why he chose these characters， “Many artists， writers and philosophers were fist-class， but they were ignored by the mass. They were more gifted than the so-called genius. Therefore， it is indispensable to introduce these characters and relevant anecdotes to more readers. I just want to prevent them from being forgotten”. Obviously， that is how he does.
　　Li Wei is good at placing characters in historical scenes with strong sense of reality at the beginning according to the characters ’ characteristics and backgrounds， which are just like interesting comments starting from a freeze-frame photo. Therefore， in the opening chapter， the author Emil Cioran could be founded in a small ward at an old people's home due to his senile dementia and he did not recognize anything， but his books printed with his name make him feel comfortable. Besides， we can see in the book that in a tennis court of Rome in 1606， Caravaggio， a painter was fighting with others； in 1819， Theodore Gericault started fragmentary remains of human bodies in winter in a suburb house in Paris； in 1930s， on the street of Drogobych， Schultz， who was thin， hit a telegraph pole and apologized to it； in 1960s， Pérec， a philologist wearing his hair in an African style， showed his proudness in a party crowded of guests…By taking a glance at a certain historical moment， Li Wei’s character comment is characterized by vividness of story style. He writes about events and literary quotations of art history， arrogant melancholy， irreversible fate， and fatal perfectness. His writing is just like an elaborate dead man slightly rotating on an initially smooth wood surface. In a short time， clear past life of characters is described from the history， which make characters ， anecdotes and creative styles left in the history， become touchable and sensible with feelings and endow them with glittering “halo”. On reading， people seem to go back to the past and it seems that those characters have been acquainted by people for a long time， which become a part of our existing imagination about “artists”. 　　However， Li Wei is not satisfied with what depicted above. He combines put imagination， narration， theatricality， and accurate comment on characters all together. He can always grasp characters’ characteristics and creative styles correctly and connect individual fate with times， which make his works miraculous brightness and profoundness. With lively details， his works are also characterized by deep sense of history， which together with his knowledge of large amount of materials is inseparable from acute judgment obtained from his long-term reading. He uses a colour of grey， between black and white， to mark German painter Richter in later period of 19th century； he compares decline and solitude of Hofmannsthal， who was known as a genius poet ranking after Goethe， to “hands failing to touch each other”； he uses “failed art of escaping” to describe the death of Schultz who used virtual works to escape from the cruel “adult world”. He is full of sense of compassion and his writing is incisive on entanglement of characters’ talent and fate.
　　Take Satie as an example. Satie was a musician born in the same period with Debussy and he was a core character in classical music circle of 19th century. His house was full of sundries which were messy， but his clothes were always impeccable and clean to meet highest standard. His sense of cold humor can be founded in his works Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear， Unpleasant Small Guilt， and Flabby Preludes for a Dog. Furniture music created by Satie becomes the origin of environmental music and minimal music， but what he did was just for fun. After he became a bit well known， he began to be a student at the age of 39. When his life was steady， he left the famous art center for a remote and backward place. In his hometown， a road was named after his name， but the road was a dead end. Li Wei’s comments on Satie are about that “maybe there is a lot of absurdity in our life， and Satie often made it even worse most possibly”. Satie stood for a type of persons： when the curtain was opened， he did not come on stage with clear articulation， and mellow and full tune to meet expectation of audience and reach “success” smoothly； on the contrary， he was a little weird and tottering with striking talent and he was incompatible with the reality， but he failed to know that. Li Wei loves those characters and he says：
　　When a child is born， no one knows who he will be and what he can do.
　　In 1866， Satie came to the world with loud crying. However， no one knew that the baby with French and Scottish ancestries would become a composer who was not so serious-minded and a tippler who was very serious indeed. The former one brought him reputation that may last forever， and the latter one failed to make him enjoy a natural span of life.
　　Usually a baby would receive a pullet drum as gift， sometimes even a jumping doll. For Satie， these two toys seemed to predict others. The reason is that he was an unusual person who abided by his fancy imagination until his death and regarded life as a game. Maybe he did not really grow up.
　　Therefore， he and his music are unforgettable.
　　In this way， he did not need to hide under others’ shadow and it is time for him to go into the sunshine.
　　It is true that they should come into the sunshine， which is also the gift of Anti-tune， which gathers talent of cynical characters， for our culture.