Li Yu, 1610-1680, was a brilliant comic writer and entertainer, a thoroughgoing professional whose life was in his work-plays, stories, a novel, criticism, essays, and poems. Patrick Hanan places him in the society of his day, where even his precarious livelihood, his constant search for patronage, did not dampen his versatility, his irreverent wit, or his jocund spirit. Li was also an epicure, an inventor, a pundit, and a designer of houses and gardens. He was an exceptional figure in Chinese culture for two reasons: his disregard of the authority of tradition, and his dedication to the cause of comedy.

Hanan uses the term "invention" in his title in several ways: Li Yu's invention of himself, his public image-his originality and inventiveness in a multitude of fields and the literary products of his inventiveness. With expert and entertaining translations Hanan explores the key features of Li Yu's work, summarizing, describing, and quoting extensively to convey Li's virtuosity, his unconventionality, his irreverence, his ribaldry. This is a splendid introduction to the art and persona of a Chinese master of style and ingenuity.

韓南（Patrick Hanan），1927年齣生於新西蘭，1949年新西蘭大學學士，1953年倫敦大學碩士，1960年倫敦大學博士，先任教於倫敦大學亞非學院，後任教於斯坦福大學，1968年起任哈佛大學東亞係中國古典文學教授並兼任主任，並為哈佛大學VictorS.Thomas講座教授，有《金瓶梅探源》《中國短篇小說之時期、作者與結構研究》《中國白話小說》《李漁的發現》《恨海：世紀之交的兩本言情小說》，以及《中國古典小說研究論集》《百傢公案考》《論肉薄團的原刊本》等著述多種。