Chinese to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Fiction novel

灯市东口往北一点，东四南大街上，一家老大的中国书店，夏天夕晒，冬天没钱生火，伙计永远戴着套袖。看着千年的文字垃圾，五颜六色、沾着尘土沾着汗水沾着手油、从地板顶到天花板，站在屋子当中，还想写东西，心里要多大一团火啊。司马迁心里一定是一团巨大的对汉武帝的仇恨之火或者是对时间的困惑之火或者是对声名不朽的贪婪之火，或者三者都有。

These sentences come a little out of the blue. The main character is sitting on a Beijing street corner wondering who Sima Qiang would have interviewed in order to write Shiji, then he is thinking about clothing shops in Beijing and thinking about his favorite bookstore, then he goes on to talk about a suspected thief who has tuberculosis.

I'm guessing that 心里...一团火 is a kind of passion for something. But is it an angry passion or a passion to accomplish something? Any help on the last sentence would be greatly appreciated.