經歷明清鼎革，李漁放棄科舉仕途，加以社會環境鉅變，李漁走出一條自外於仕途經濟的人生道路。以戲曲名世的李漁，也是一位自我風格鮮明的通俗小說家，其話本創作有《無聲戲》、《連城璧》、《十二樓》。處易代之際，李漁世俗化商業化的性格特徵，使其受到許多誤解；李漁多元複雜又不易為人所真正了解的創作理念，造成當代對他的評價已有判若雲泥的極端看法，遑論後世之人對於李漁作品的理解。歷來研究者多關注於李漁戲劇及其理論，近年漸有對其話本小說的研究。其實不論是戲劇或小說，李漁關心的議題不脫世情，多以男女婚戀的題材為主，涉及生活上諸多面向。筆者之所以選擇《十二樓》為研究文本，乃是因為這是李漁一生最後話本之作(時年四十八)，自署「覺世稗官」，版本爭議最小。遺民詩人杜濬是李漁小說的評點者，在《十二樓》序中稱李漁為「覺道人」，還說令人可喜的《十二樓》故事「於勸懲不無助」，更談到李漁的十二樓之作有「鼓吹經傳」、「接引頑痴」之效，李漁以此作「偕一世人結歡喜緣」，有「不同於恆人」的用心。學界對於李漁小說的研究漸興，但多著重在其敘事技巧或女性研究等議題。本論文以「覺世新編：重訪李漁十二樓」為題，以杜濬序作為重訪《十二樓》的指南，希冀能掘發作者創作的覺世深心。Li Yu made a difficult decision to give up an official career by the way to pass official imperial examination as he went through a major historical event named Chia-Shen Chih- Pien. Finally, he decided to went his way which was much different from official career to realize his ideal in troubled times. He was known not only for Drama creations but also for Colloquial Fiction with unique style, including “The Silence Drama”, “Twelve Towers” and “Liancheng Bi”. However, during the period of exchanged-dynasty, He was also widely misunderstood as he was so expert at marketing of his creations and as his complicated creative ideas. Besides Li Yu’s Dramas and Theories have long been interested by researchers, some researchers are gradually focus on the study of his Vernacular Novels. We may clearly see Li Yu’s deeply concern for worldly affairs through love affairs and other common things described in his Dramas or Novels. First Reason for me to study “Twelve Towers” is that this is a creation with little dispute and also his final one of Vernacular Novels. Secondly, Du Ju respectfully called Li Yu as a “Awaken Man” when he annotated “Twelve Towers”, and added that “Twelve Towers” not only have dimly edifying effect on the world but also guide people who lost the way. Even though more researchers show their interest in the Novels study of Li Yu, they still focus on Narrative Analysis or Women's Studies. Different from those topics, this essay will discuss how Li-Yu expressed his sincere care to awake the world by reference to the preface of “Twelve Towers” written by Du Ju and named as “A new perspective for awakening the world - Twelve Towers Revisited”
