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Events
Jan. 9 | Call for papers: Identities and Technocultures
A 2-day conference about American culture and technologies that examines how new technologies dominate and define Americaness in the US and abroad. Co-sponsored by the University of Iowa Center for Ethnic Studies and the Arts (CESA) and the Mid-America American Studies Association (MAASA).
Resources: Abstracts of American Studies Dissertations
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Smart, Karl L. "A Man for All Ages: The Changing Image of Benjamin Franklin in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Literature," University of Florida, May 1989. Advisor: John Seelye (12, 2, 18)
The image of Franklin is analyzed from his own carefully self-crafted public figure through subsequent biographers and critics (Weems, Alger, and others) who refashion it to reflect prevalent ideologies. Images range from a pious Christian to a mythicized, larger-than-life figure credited for almost every event in American colonial history. Emphasizing literature intended for children, Franklin’s image is traced through four distinct phases of the nineteenth century: Early (1800-1829), Mid-Century (1830-1859), Civil War and Post-Civil War (1860-1879), and Late (1880-1900). The Franklin which early twentieth-century critics such as D. H. Lawrence reacted against and the image which still remains popular is largely a creation of the nineteenth century.
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