| Benjamin Franklin was a renowned statesman, |
| a successful proprietor, an avid philosopher, |
| and a prolific scie... uh, inventor. |
| As we learned from our reading this week, |
| his inventions include bifocals, the Franklin stove, the odometer, |
| and, of course, the lightening rod. |
| Today, though, I want to argue the case that Franklin's greatest legacy was not in any of those roles, |
| or as a founding father of the United States, but as a writer. |
| Do any of you know a book that Franklin has written? |
| Anyone? |
| Well, that's because Franklin wrote, er, didn't write any great novels, |
| a la later US greats like Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Mark Twain. |
| But I think an analysis of Franklin's writing style, |
| his instincts, his sensibilities and his accomplishments |
| reveals that he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as those literary giants. |
| Like Hemingway, Franklin began as a newspaper reporter, |
| then moved on to publish essays, journals and books. |
| His most famous books are Autobiography, the Way to Wealth and Poor Richard's Almanack, |
| an annual publication that he founded and authored from 1732 to 1748. |
| Franklin's first literary contributions were essays printed in 1722 |
| in the New England Courant, |
| a newspaper published by his brother James. |
| Ben's writing style at this time was modeled principally upon that of The Spectator, |
| a British paper edited by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. |
| Early on, though, Franklin displayed an innate ability to write concise, clear news stories. |
| In 1729, he became publisher and editor of The Pennsylvania Gazette, |
| which he developed into a newspaper universally acclaimed as the best in the American colonies. |
| Franklin made three great contributions to American literature. |
| First was his preference to share his opinion about popular topics, |
| instead of simply reporting on current events |
| much in the vein of a modern newspaper columnist. |
| Through his writings, Franklin helped shape America's national identity, |
| by shifting Americans' consciousness from a spiritual Puritanism to, uh, |
| secular rationalism, which was characteristic of 18th century enlightenment. |
| He thus created a percep... uh, |
| a dawning awareness that America was a country with distinctly different values and interests than those of England. |
| Poor Richard's Almanack and his Autobiography, for example, |
| are written in the style of self-help guides. |
| They're packed with enlightenment maxims such as |
| "an investment in knowledge pays the best interest," |
| "time is money," |
| and "hear reason, or she'll make you feel her." |
| Franklin imbued his journalism with a similar tone. |
| In an article entitled "Death of a Drunk," for instance, |
| he used a true story to pass on a moral lesson about the dangers of drinking. |
| Author Robert Arner said that Franklin's writings "demonstrate a," um, |
| "deep and abiding belief in the power of the press to educate the public on topical issues." |
| Franklin's second contribution was his sense for unusual and interesting news stories, |
| which set a tone that has carried over to modern newspapers. |
| The Pennsylvania Gazette specialized in brief, offbeat articles, |
| such as a husband who tried to decapitate his wife's adulterer, |
| and a fiddler who saved his fiddle - but not his wife - from a capsized canoe. |
| Although some criticized this as sensationalistic, or "yellow" journalism, |
| Franklin's venerable wisdom and natural wit permeated the short reports |
| and attracted a huge and loyal audience. |
| In this sense, we might call Franklin the father of tabloid journalism. |
| So you can thank Ben next time you're in a supermarket checkout line and see the headline: |
| "Michael Jackson spotted on UFO." |
| Franklin's third significant contribution to US literature is his writing style, |
| which reflects the philosophy he expressed in a 1732 essay. |
| Good writing, he said, should be "smooth, clear and short". |
| Compared with other eighteenth century authors, Franklin's writing is much more concise and readable. |
| That comparison holds not only among his contemporaries, however, |
| but also among writers in the following three centuries. |
| Franklin played a leading role in developing journalism as a terse writing form, |
| getting quickly to the point and dwelling on important issues instead of secondary facts. |
| Moreover, Franklin was a word economist, |
| finding the shortest way to express a thought, |
| as demonstrated by his vast coinages of aphorisms. |
| The chief reason Franklin's sayings remain popular today |
| is due not to their moral wisdom but to their brevity. |
| Advice such as, "Well done is better than well said;" |
| "when in doubt, don't" |
| dispense moral certitudes in sentences that are catchy and easy to remember - |
| a timeless writing tip. |
| How many of you have heard your English teacher mention KISS? |
| KISS |
| What does that mean? |
| Keep it short and simple. |
| Yep. Keep it short and simple. |
| That was a formula Ben Franklin was practicing long before someone coined a name for it. |
| Given all this, it's no wonder that Scottish philosopher David Hume called Franklin, |
| "America's first great man of letters." |