Week 7 – A Most Famous American

Monday, 13 October

On this second day with Rowlandson’s text, we examine the conclusion of her narrative and spend some time thinking about its place in the broader transatlantic world. We’ll borrow insights from the excellent online resource concerning the material objects presented in the text (https://rowlandsonobjects.wordpress.com/silver-buttons/), and then think through the larger implications across history with the help of some clips from historian Jill Lepore’s online lecture (https://vimeo.com/17377471). Through it all, we track our developing concerns with this dialectic of captivity and freedom as it plays out in the late 17^th century

      For Wednesday (10.15):

• Read Franklin, Autobiography, Part One (A, 404-441)
• Record two entries in your common-place book

Wednesday, 15 October

Shifting from Rowlandson’s Narrative to the work of the most famous man in eighteenth-century British America, Benjamin Franklin, might seem a stretch. His representation of self and collective interests, however, became the foundation for a distinctly American character, much of which is bound up in questions regarding the tension between captivity and freedom. Accordingly, his account serves as a more secularized intertext to consider alongside Rowlandson’s, even as it touches on many of the same concerns. In this class, we learn of details regarding composition and publication before taking a closer look at part one of Franklin’s carefully curated self-presentation.

      For Friday (10.17):

• Read Franklin, Autobiography Part Two (A, 441-454)
• Read from Letters from an American Farmer, Letter III (“What is an American”?) (A, 475-483)
• Record two entries in your common-place book

Friday, 17 October

After relaying two letters of recommendation concerning the value of his life-story, Part Two of the Autobiography provides many details concerning Franklin’s pursuit of moral perfection. From his list of thirteen virtues to his charts recording his everyday behavior, his systematic daily schedule and his honest assessment of his success, Franklin strikes quite the pose. Much of this seems a response to one of the latter suggestions from Benjamin Vaughan—that Franklin’s character can not only serve as a bridge to reestablish British and American relations after the Revolutionary War, but also be to the “better[ment] of the whole race of men.” So what do we think of this prescription for personal success? Do we see any inconsistencies? Does he set an impossible standard? Thinking a little more broadly, is it an overly restrictive and normative type of character? What does that have to do with our questions on captivity and freedom? We’ll start by thinking about some close-reading practice here, and then transition into a discussion of Crevecoeur’s famous letter aptly titled “What is an American?” Altogether, we hope to gather a clear understanding of the complexities of freedom/captivity, the position of founders (the formal ones and cultural ones), and the material consequences of such convictions.

      For Monday (10.20):

• Read Equiano, from An Interesting Narrative (A, 601-640)
• Record two entries in your common-place book