Re: Does "dry" mean "dull" here? That is, the word is a bit derogatory.
It is from "MAO: A BIOGRAPHY" by Ross Terril.
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
(1) Thank you so much for identifying the author of this beautiful sentence.
(2) Thanks to you, I was able to read the relevant section of the book on Google books.
(3) As the teachers always tell us learners: Context! Context! Context!
(4) The sentence just before this sentence is:
"Mao never lost the duality of being a taut wire of pure mind, yet also sensual as a
cat."
(5) Thus that sentence seems, ONLY in my opinion, to mean something like:
He was dry enough [that is, he did it in a
matter-of - fact or "cold" way] to dazzle
a visitor by effort
lessly mentioning some classical quotation or [in a similarly
matter-of-fact or
unemotional way] of being silent [and letting the visitor fry uncomfortably
in the boiling oil of silence. As we all know, human beings are terrified by silence.
That's why silence is considered the height of contempt].
(6) Speaking of context, the following sentence then shows his "sensual" side.
The sentence tells us that he would often put his hand into his trousers in order to
deal with some lice!
(7) In my opinion, the word "dry" is NOT being used in a derogatory sense in that
sentence.