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Israel Belyaev
Israel Belyaev

Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin


The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin appears to have called the work his Memoirs. Although it had a tortuous publication history after Franklin's death, this work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written.




Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin



Despite authoring the constituent parts of his autobiography separately and over the course of multiple decades, Franklin intended his composition to stand as a unified piece of work. According to editors J. A. Leo Lemay and P. M. Zall, Franklin began writing part one of the autobiography in July or August 1771, which is also when he most likely authored an outline for the whole work.[3] Over a decade later in 1782, Franklin was prompted by leading Philadelphia merchant Abel James to continue writing the autobiography. In a letter to Franklin that was ultimately included in the autobiography, James wrote of the work:


The first three parts of the Autobiography were first published together (in English) by Franklin's grandson, William Temple Franklin, in London in 1818, in Volume 1 of Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin. W. T. Franklin did not include Part Four because he had previously traded away the original hand-written holograph of the Autobiography for a copy that contained only the first three parts. Furthermore, he felt free to make unauthoritative stylistic revisions to his grandfather's autobiography, and on occasion followed the translated and retranslated versions mentioned above rather than Ben Franklin's original text.


W. T. Franklin's text was the standard version of the Autobiography for half a century, until John Bigelow purchased the original manuscript in France and in 1868 published the most reliable text that had yet appeared, including the first English publication of Part Four. In the 20th century, important editions by Max Ferrand and the staff of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California (Benjamin Franklin's Memoirs: Parallel Text Edition, 1949) and by Leonard W. Labaree (1964, as part of the Yale University Press edition of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin) improved on Bigelow's accuracy. In 1981, J. A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall produced The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: A Genetic Text, attempting to show all revisions and cancellations in the holograph manuscript. This, the most accurate edition of all so far published, served as a basis for Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography: A Norton Critical Edition and for the text of this autobiography printed in the Library of America's edition of Franklin's Writings.


In the simplicity and vigor of his style Franklin more nearlyresembles the earlier group of writers. In his first essays he wasnot an inferior imitator of Addison. In his numerous parables,moral allegories, and apologues he showed Bunyan's influence. ButFranklin was essentially a journalist. In his swift, terse style,he is most like Defoe, who was the first great English journalistand master of the newspaper narrative. The style of both writers ismarked by homely, vigorous expression, satire, burlesque, repartee.Here the comparison must end. Defoe and his contemporaries wereauthors. Their vocation was writing and their success rests on theimaginative or creative power they displayed. To authorshipFranklin laid no claim. He wrote no work of the imagination. Hedeveloped only incidentally a style in many respects as remarkableas that of his English contemporaries. He wrote the bestautobiography in existence, one of the most widely knowncollections of maxims, and an unsurpassed series of political andsocial satires, because he was a man of unusual scope of power andusefulness, who knew how to tell his fellow-men the secrets of thatpower and that usefulness.


Left unfinished at the time of his death, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin has endured as one of the most well-known and influential autobiographies ever written. From his early years in Boston and Philadelphia to the publication of his Poor Richard's Almanac to the American Revolution and beyond, Franklin's autobiography is a fascinating, personal exploration into the life of America's most interesting founding father.


This autobiography collection contains My Life and Work: The Autobiography of Henry Ford, My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla, and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.


BibGuru offers more than 8,000 citation styles including popular styles such as AMA, ASA, APSA, CSE, IEEE, Harvard, Turabian, and Vancouver, as well as journal and university specific styles. Give it a try now: Cite The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin now!


Printer and publisher, author and educator, scientist and inventor, statesman and philanthropist, Benjamin Franklin was the very embodiment of the American type of self-made man. In 1771, at the age of 65, he sat down to write his autobiography, "having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world, and having gone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity." The result is a classic of American literature.On the eve of the tercentenary of Franklin's birth, the university he founded has selected the Autobiography for the Penn Reading Project. Each year, for the past fifteen years, the University of Pennsylvania has chosen a single work that the entire incoming class, and a large segment of the faculty and staff, read and discuss together. For this occasion the University of Pennsylvania Press will publish a special edition of Franklin's Autobiography, including a new preface by University president Amy Gutmann and an introduction by distinguished scholar Peter Conn. The volume will also include four short essays by noted Penn professors as well as a chronology of Franklin's life and the text of Franklin's Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania, a document resulting in the establishment of an institution of higher education that ultimately became the University of Pennsylvania.No area of human endeavor escaped Franklin's keen attentions. His ideas and values, as Amy Gutmann notes in her remarks, have shaped the modern University of Pennsylvania profoundly, "more profoundly than have the founders of any other major university of college in the United States." Franklin believed that he had been born too soon. Readers will recognize that his spirit lives on at Penn today.Essay contributors: Richard R. Beeman, Paul Guyer, Michael Weisberg, and Michael Zuckerman.


An Autobiography... was written apparently to apprise his son about the events of his life and also meant to be a treatise that would lead to the self betterment of the younger generation. As a book, it is a difficult and complex read. The tone is often meandering, arrogant and condescending in turn and does not have a consistent feel. Written over an extended time period, there are large gaps in sequence and often the author contradicts his own recounting of events. In fact, it ends abruptly, without a shred of information about Franklin's seminal role in the American Revolution. Yet, two centuries after its debut, it remains widely read and acclaimed, valued for its being almost the first autobiography to have been written in English. Its extensive advice on how to go about achieving a list of virtues is probably the first ever self-help book.


Written between 1771 and 1790, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the name given to the unfinished autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, one of the most influential founding fathers of the United States of America. Remaining unpublished during his lifetime, the first edition in 1791 was in French and was based on a flawed transcript. Franklin's grandson then published the book in English in 1818, but had not only missed out a part, but also made revisions to his grandfather's work. Finally, in 1868, John Bigelow bought the original manuscript and published the first accurate version, which is what this edition is based on. Over the course of his life, apart from being a politician, Franklin was also a printer, scientist, and an inventor. His autobiography charts his rise from humble beginnings in Boston to the self-made man he eventually became.


Franklin tells us about his life and path up until 1791. It was published before his death and has become one of the most famous examples of an autobiography: "He felt the need of school training and set to work to educate himself. He had an untiring industry, and love of the approval of his neighbor; and he knew that more things fail through want of care than want of knowledge. His practical imagination was continually forming projects; and, fortunately for the world, his great physical strength and activity were always setting his ideas in motion."If you'd prefer to listen to this article, use the player below.You can also find more of my articles in audio version at Listle


According to Franklin, he rose to economic success through various strategies. One of the key tactics that Franklin used to become affluent and reputable was through industry and frugality. In deed, Franklin devotes a large portion of his autobiography to show how his eagerness to work hand and reduce expenses in order to achieve financial security helped him climb the economic ladder. Franklin also became successful economically because he underscored the viability of long term planning.


In order to be successful, Franklin, in his autobiography offered readers with a number of traits that they ought to possess. One of these is silence. He held that a talkative person might end up benefiting others or oneself. As such, although it is important to remain silent, at times, talking is not altogether bad because it is not possible to determine when it will be valuable to him or her. 041b061a72


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