At no point does he claim any special mastery over how to live life, but he was committed to finding a formula that could assure a person of some success.įranklin never tries to show superiority he speaks directly to the reader and laces it all with subtle humour, giving it the intimate feel of a fireside chat. As a scientist, Franklin wrote it almost as if it is was a report on the failures and successes of experiments in living. The Autobiography is not a chronicle of Franklin's brilliance the idea was to show how a person's life and character could become a noble one through constant self-assessment. 'If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.' In the history books he looms large as co-drafter of the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution, but the Autobiography has been lauded as 'The first great book written in America' (Richard E Amacher: 1962) It helped to create the modern literary form of the autobiography, and has been a bestseller for two centuries, despite the fact that it was never finished or properly edited.įranklin's attitude to written work is summed up in one of his own aphorisms: Benjamin Franklin is best known as an historical figure, for his role in the American Revolution and experiments with electricity.
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