The "Memo" pages of Franklin's Autobiography

• Autores: José María Rodríguez García
• Localización: Miscelánea: A journal of english and american studies, ISSN 1137-6368, ISSN-e 2386-4834, Nº 18, 1997, págs. 267-280
• Idioma: español
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • In 1783 Abel James and Benjamin Vaughan sent each a letter to Franklin asking him to resume the writing of his life, which he had begun in 1771. In addition to providing Franklin with a legitimate occasion to continue his truncated self-narration (he is asked to teach other Americans how to live their lives) the two letters consider life writing as a disciplinary technology and a nation-building institution. They also comment upon the competition among rival modes of self-making and self-representation taking place at the time on both sides of the Atlantic, as evinced in the writings of Edwards, Jefferson, Fielding, and Boswell, among others.