Carla Mulford

The Cambridge companion to Benjamin Franklin

Chronology Introduction Carla Mulford 1. Benjamin Franklins library Kevin J. Hayes 2. The art of virtue Douglas Anderson 3. Franklins satiric vein Paul E. Kerry 4. Franklin in the Republic of Letters David S. Shields 5. Benjamin Franklins natural philosophy Joyce E. Chaplin 6. Franklin and the Enlightenment Frank Kelleter 7. Franklin and the question of religion Kerry Walters 8. The pragmatist in Franklin James Campbell 9. Franklin on national character and the Great Seal of the United States Lester C. Olson 10. Protestant ethic or conspicuous consumption?: Benjamin Franklin and the Gilded Age Wilson J. Moses 11. Benjamin Franklin and the American Dream Nian-Sheng Huang and Carla Mulford 12. Benjamin Franklins Autobiography, then and now Stephen Carl Arch Guide to further reading Index.

John Leacock's The First Book of the American Chronicles of the Times, 1774-1775.

The complete text of the biblical parodic satire American Chronicles is presented here for the first time since its 1774-79 publication, together with a comprehensive analysis of the work and its cultural relevance, and detailed notes, appendixes, and an introduction establishing the satires authorship.

Benjamin Franklin, Literary Journalism, and Finding a National Subject

Some of the most memorable stories found in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography are those related to his youth, when he taught himself to enter the world of words by working his way through the literary journalism of his day. Franklin’s recollections in the autobiography tell of Franklin’s hard work at his brother’s press and his having taught himself to write literary journalism by imitating The Spectator by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. He became so skilled at such writing that he was able to dupe his brother into publishing his artful sketches, the inventive periodical series of “letters” by “Silence Dogood.” When Franklin established his own press in Philadelphia, his literary journalism found its maturity in his writings for his Pennsylvania Gazette and his Poor Richard almanacs. Such a literary apprenticeship suited Franklin’s creative talents and served the colonies well when Franklin traveled to England and France to negotiate on the colonies’ behalf during and then after the war against Britain.

Modern Language Association Honored Scholar of Early American Literature, 2007: Pattie Cowell

The Division of American Literature to 1800 is charged to recognize on rare occasions the extraordinary contributions of scholars to early American studies. In 2007, we honor the work of Pattie Cowell.

To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders (review)

While it is true that Cabeza deVaca’sRelación frequently lacks the grace of other accounts, especially in the harshly literal phraseology of this translation, one cannot deny the value of its attempt to convey the ironies and dislocations of colonial experience in its discourse. In light of the new sense attached by common terms such as Christian, fortune, and worth in the selection cited here and throughout the final pages, one may appreciate the soundness of Adorno and Pautz’s decision to foreground the European contexts of the Relación, whose attention to rivalries and controversies between and among Spaniards is, from first to last, of greater consequence than the marvels, however new and exotic, of its American setting. This said, modern readers can enjoy this translation of the Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca on many levels and to many ends, confident in its fidelity to the author’s own perspective and intentions.

Benjamin Franklin, Native Americans, and the Commerce of Civility

The latter half of the eighteenth century was marked by shifting attitudes about the social formation, especially its stability and class differentiation, in Britain and France. The potential for establishing new forms of governance because of the clear possibility of independent economic viability of colonial holdings of both countries fostered clear anxiety among the genteel and aristocratic, because of an overwhelming desire to preserve the status quo — and thus the status — of elite group persons. For many from this group, the enriching of whole groups of people whose origin was not genteel or aristocratic meant a change in the social formation that was unacceptable. Especially if the upstarts had been born in the colonies, any attempt to “pull rank” with European upper classes was troublesome and unacceptable, regardless of how wealthy the colonial was. Didn’t the colonials, after all, live among the Indians of America? And weren’t those same Indians savages and brutes, far from the level of civilization that Europeans were participating in?