達許.漢密特是二十世紀的美國作家,他被公認為冷硬派推理小說的創始人,更被許多學者推崇為最偉大的作家之一。 本論文羅列許多評論家和作家們對漢密特的讚嘆,作為本論文作者研究漢密特的開端,也就是說, 看到那麼多名人學者大力稱讚漢密特, 並將漢密特和馬克.吐溫、海明威等人並列為美國偉大的文學作家,我不禁好奇: 到底漢密特貢獻了什麼, 讓那麼多人讚不絕口? 因此,本論文旨在研究:漢密特的貢獻到底是什麼? 那些貢獻為什麼那麼重要? 為了要充分讓本論文讀者了解漢密特的成就為什麼值得探討,所以我在第一章和第二章簡述推理文學發展的歷史,讓讀者知道, 在漢密特出現之前所建立起來的推理文學寫作的傳統有哪些。 讀者有了推理文學發展方向的概念之後,就能比較漢密特的推理故事與他的前輩建立起來的推理文學格式有什麼不同, 並且能了解為推理文學帶來哪些清新並且重要的元素。 本論文作者從三方面深入探討漢密特的貢獻:他在形塑人物特色方面的貢獻、他在語言和形式方面的貢獻、他對寫實文學方面的貢獻。 本論文作者希望,藉由探究漢密特對推理文學的貢獻, 喚起更多人重視漢密特的文學創作,並且希望吸引不熟悉推理文學的讀者們進入多采多姿的推理世界。 Hammett had been praised to the sky for the way he wrote detective fiction. Hammett’s contribution to the detective form was recognized not only by writers of the genre but also by many critics and scholars, who indicated that Hammett’s accomplishments in American literature were comparable to those of Ernest Hemingway, and Mark Twain. Therefore, I found that the study of Hammett’s contribution as a detective-story writer was of academic value. Consequently, my thesis will show in the introduction the worthiness of Hammett as a topic of further study through the acclamations of the scholars and critics. Subsequently, the achievements and state of the genre into which he made his contribution will be presented. Next, most importantly, Hammett’s specific contributions to the existing detective story will be delineated. They are categorized in three parts—Hammett’s contributions to characterization, to language, and to realism.