Literary Criticism

What J.A. Lemay says in his literary criticism of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography is that it is one of Benjamin's Franklin's greatest work of art. However I do not agree this truly was his greatest work of art. I do however like the ideas that Lemay uses when trying to explain why the Autobiography was Franklin's greatest work. He uses legitimate background information to prove his point to his readers. He also uses good quotes from other people about Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography to prove how great the book actually was. A good one that brings his point across is, "Franklin's Autobiography is the first great book in American literature, and, in some ways, it remains the most important single book. One cannot claim for it the structural perfection of, say, Henry James's Ambassadors or Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, nor does it possess the grandiloquent language of Melville, Whitman, or Faulkner. But Franklin's Autobiography contains those 'short quick probings at the very axis of reality,' which, in Melville's opinion, were a touchstone of literary greatness" (Lemay). This is a very strong point he makes. He states it is not the most perfect book in the world and it does not have perfect grammar or anything, but the idea of the book and its content is what makes it one of the most important books of all time. In my opinion, it is better to say that something is not the greatest in everything because nothing in the world can be the best in every single category. I would rather have something be great in some key categories of which I am looking at it, then it can be truly great. It is like when you compare the an Mac computer to a windows computer. It is true macs are not good for gaming like windows are, but overall they are a better computer. Macs only have a dozen known viruses where windows have thousands. Macs are way faster and function better, and are just an overall better computer. Another thing I really like about Lemay's criticism is he asks the reader questions and challenges his readers to actually think. In the criticism he asks what the American Dream is (Lemay). No one knows what the American Dream actually is, it could be different for many people depending on what they are looking for. Lemay does not give a straight answer and just says there is a common cliche and no set 'dream'. This leaves room for reader questions and gives them a chance to put some of their own thoughts into Lemay's writing. Whether this is on purpose or not, it is a great literary element for this kind of writing. Lemay actually tells us what the main theme of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography is and explains to his readers what the book is going to be about if someone would want to read it. This is nice because it does not tell us any of the events that happen within Franklin's book, but it gives the reader somewhat of a heads up and an idea of what they are going to be reading about. I hate when you read something and do not know what its purpose was, then you get an idea of what it is about and you read it over again and you understand it. This is a help to a situation such as this.

Franklin, Benjamin. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. [S.I.]: General, 2009. Print.

Lemay, J.A. Leo. "Franklin's Autobiography and the American Dream." InThe Renaissance Man in the Eighteenth Century. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1978. Quoted as "Franklin's Autobiography and the American Dream." in Bloom, Harold, ed. The American Dream, Bloom's Literary Themes. New York: Chelsea Publishing House, 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. October 11, 2010.