張愛玲是中國現代小說史上最重要的小說家之一，她對後來的華人作家影響無所不在。張愛玲對人世有超凡的洞察力，在她筆下把人性刻劃得淋漓盡致，尤其是女性的生存困境。事實上她的作品特色與她不幸的成長經歷有密切關聯。這些慘痛的遭遇造成她的作品獨樹一格，雖用字遣詞富麗堂皇，但作品的世界卻充滿蒼涼的況味。作品是作家習慣領域的展現，好的作品都有非常豐富的習慣領域，偉大的作品更常常超越一般人的習慣領域，給讀者帶來深刻的反省與拓展，習慣領域也隨之豐富。本文將分析張愛玲的生命歷程如何影響她的人格心理與創作，並以張愛玲為例，進一步解析作家的習慣領域如何影響其作品與生命基調。

Eileen Chang is one of the most important authors of Chinese modern fiction. Her impact on later Chinese authors is ubiquitous. With her extraordinary insight into this world, Eileen Chang beautifully and profoundly described human nature, especially about women’s living difficulties. As a matter of fact, the characteristic of her works is closely related to her unfortunate growing experiences. These painful experiences made her works out of the ordinary. That is, although written with gorgeous words and expressions, her works are filled with desolation as well as woe. Works are representation of authors’ habitual domains. Good works are abundant in habitual domains. Great works are usually from more exuberant habitual domains over average people. These works bring readers deep introspection and broadened horizons, and abundance in their habitual domains at the same time. This essay will analyze how Eileen Chang’s life course influenced her personality, mentality and her work. Using Eileen Chang as an example, it further explains how authors’ habitual domains affect their works and their keynotes of life.