![]() This is also when Franklin most likely drew up his outline for the entire work. Scholar Susan Garfinkel sums up the process thusly: “Part One was penned while Franklin was in England in July-August of 1771. ![]() The work, addressed to Franklin’s son William, was written over many decades. ![]() Leo Lemay states, “Franklin gave us the definitive formation of the American Dream.” The work is not only an autobiography but also a historical document of a tumultuous time in our history, a self-help manual that encapsulates the idea of the self-made man and American individualism, and (at least in Part One) a stirring bildungsroman that is almost novelistic in its lucid, dynamic narration. It sheds light on the life of one of America’s Founding Fathers, a man singular in his confluence of intellect, wit, ingenuity, perspicacity, and self-awareness. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklinis one of the most famous, beloved, and lauded works of American letters it is also the first autobiography to achieve widespread popularity and is a classic of the genre. ![]()
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