丁玲 (1904~1986) 可以說是中國現代文學史中最具有時代感和時代意義的女作家。從 1927年步入文壇，一直到四○年代，丁玲完成了個人的文學發展歷程，而這文學發展歷程又與整個中國現代史及現代文學發展史密切地結合。丁玲早期的創作奠基在五四張揚個人主義和個性主義的精神上，她將女性視為完全獨立的個體，在突破封建家庭的束縛後仍不罷休，執意地追尋女性參與社會的方法。三○年代之後，丁玲因命運的安排和自覺的選擇而走上革命道路，開始以小說創作來宣揚革命理念，實踐革命理想。抗戰爆發後，丁玲的文學生涯和革命事業進入了另一個階段，她既以大量的散文和報導文學來執行革命工作，又將她四○年代的小說創作推向成熟階段，這些作品是她的革命經驗與文學創作最成功的結合。從丁玲一生的創作來看，「個性主義」與「革命理想」是她生命、思想中最重要的、不可偏廢的兩個部分，「個性主義」代表五四知識份子強調個人主義的系統，而「革命理想」則代表中國二○年代中期之後蓬勃發展的政治、群眾與無產階級革命運動的系統。她的作品總是呈現「個性解放」與「革命理想」此消彼長、交互更迭所組成的多重變奏，並持續地衝撞和磨合，所以她每個階段的文學創作其實都是對自我的生命問題最真誠的反省和思考。

Ding Ling (1904~1986) can be thought of as the female writer that was most contemporary and representative of her time in the history of contemporary Chinese literature. Since her entrance to the literary scene in 1927, Ding Ling had completed her personal literary journey by the 1940s, and this journey was closely related to the entire history of contemporary China as well as the entire history of contemporary Chinese literature. Ding Ling’s early creations were based upon the individualism and personalism promoted during the May Fourth Movement. She considered females as independent entities and insisted on pursuing means for female social participation even after breaking away from the constraints of her feudal family. After the 1930s, Ding Ling started to participate in the revolution due to destiny and her own will. She began advocating revolution concepts and practicing revolutionary ideals through writing novels. The outbreak of the Resistance War brought Ding Ling’s literary and revolution career into another stage. While pushing for revolution through large amount of essays and reportage literature, her novel creation reached maturity in the 1940s. These works were a successful blending of her revolution experiences and literary creation. Looking from all of Ding Ling’s creations, it is obvious that “personalism” and “revolutionary ideals” were the most important and undeniable parts of her life and thinking. “Personalism” represented the system of individualism endorsed by the intellectuals during the May Fourth Movement while “Revolutionary Ideals” represented the system of political, public and proletarian revolution emerging after mid 1920s in China. Her works were always like a multiple variation composed of the tension and alternation between “personal liberation” and “revolutionary ideals” which collided and engaged continuously. Thus, her literary creations during each stage were in fact the most sincere introspection and reflection of her own questions of life.