明明是一部极其严肃的文学批评专著，有时候却更像一本书写上海的颓废放荡的小说，或者像一篇妖艳华丽的散文，厚重的文字铺展开来又形成一张时空错落的文化地图，将上海这座城市在大时代中悲情传奇的命运细细勾画出来。
李欧梵精彩重塑摩登上海的文化肖像，并由此奠定其在文化研究领域的先锋地位。

An uproarious and authoritative natural history in the form of letters to and answers from the preeminent sexpert in all creation, this bestselling guidebook to sex reveals, for example, when necrophilia is acceptable, how to have a virgin birth, and when to eat your lover. It also advises on more mundane matters-such as male pregnancy and the joys of a detachable penis. At once entertaining and wise, Dr. Tatiana (a.k.a. Olivia Judson) fuses natural history with advice to the lovelorn, blends wit and rigor, and reassures her anxious correspondents that although the acts they describe might sound appalling and unnatural, they are all perfectly normal-so long as you are not a human. In the process, she explains the science behind it all, from Darwin's theory of sexual selection to why sexual reproduction exists at all. By applying human standards to the natural world, in the end she reveals the wonders of both.

二十世纪欧美汉学界对现代中国文学及文化史的研究蔚为风潮，李欧梵教授的成就堪称最受瞩目。在关于现代文学的一片写实声中，他提醒我们另有一群作家曾以其激越的声音、独特的行止，为中国的现代经验另作诠释，其中的很多题目已经成为目前学界的抢手话题。相对于传统海外学人作家的游子逐客姿态，李欧梵力倡游离的边缘批判立场，与许多当代文化理论不谋而合；而他那种时时处处用功、无所计较的治学态度，又令人发思古之幽情。
李欧梵教授的重要著作，多半以英文发表，有缘一读的读者毕竟太少，《现代性的追求》精选他多年来所写的论文，重新翻译编排。其中，谈论清末以迄现代文学中浪漫主义潮起潮落的篇章，最能见出他个人性情的发挥：应《剑桥中国史》大系之邀而作“中国文学现代化之路”的长论，则在在可见他精辟允当的批评功夫。