Overview

Benjamin Franklin wrote his posthumously published memoir - a model of the genre - in several pieces and in different temporal and physical places. Douglas Anderson's study of this work reveals the famed inventor as a literary adept whose approach to autobiographical narrative was as innovative and radical as the inventions and political thought for which he is renowned. Franklin never completed his autobiography, choosing instead to immerse his reader in the formal and textual atmosphere of a deliberately ""unfinished"" life. Taking this decision on Franklin's part as a starting point, Anderson treats the memoir as a subtle and rewarding reading lesson, independent of the famous life that it dramatizes but closely linked to the work of predecessors and successors like John Bunyan and Alexis de Tocqueville, whose books help illuminate Franklin's complex imagination. Anderson shows that Franklin's incomplete story exploits the disorderly and disruptive state of a lived life, as opposed to striving for the meticulous finish of standard memoirs, biographies, and histories. In presenting Franklin's autobiography as an exemplary formal experiment in an era that its author once called the Age of Experiments, ""The Unfinished Life of Benjamin Franklin"" veers away from the familiar practices of traditional biographers, viewing history through the lens of literary imagination rather than the other way around. Anderson's carefully considered work makes a persuasive case for revisiting this celebrated book with a keener appreciation for the subtlety and beauty of Franklin's performance.

Full Product Details

Author:   Douglas Anderson (Sterling-Goodman Professor of English, University of Georgia)
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781421405230

ISBN 10:   1421405237
Pages:   232
Publication Date:   27 July 2012
Recommended Age:   From 17
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Preface A Note to the Reader Introduction: Accident and Design 1. Great Works and Little Anecdotes 2. Imposing Forms 3. The Scramble of Life 4. Litera Scripta Manet 5. Some Uses of Cunning Conclusion: Segmented Serpent Notes Index

Reviews

A nuanced discussion of Franklin's life and thought. Reference and Research Book News 2012

A nuanced discussion of Franklin's life and thought. Reference and Research Book News 2012 This book deserves a sepcial place on any library's shelf. Choice 2012

Author Information

Douglas Anderson is the Sterling-Goodman Professor of English at the University of Georgia and the author of several books, including The Radical Enlightenments of Benjamin Franklin, also published by Johns Hopkins.

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