1．目的及意义

Asis known to all, Benjamin Franklin, as the pioneer in the movement for AmericanIndependence, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and therepresentative of American mind, plays a vital role in defining the Americanethos as the combination of the practical values of thrift, hard work,initiative and opposition to authoritarianism. Being the key figure in shapingthe society America would become, Franklin is one of the most accomplished andinfluential Americans of his age. As a printer and writer, he publishes TheAutobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

His autobiographyconsists of four parts. Part One takes the form of a family letter to his son.Franklin relates the ancestry and his experience of self-struggle, hoping that hisoffspring could learn something valuable from his experience to imitate. PartTwo begins with two letters from his friends. Both of them encourage him tocontinue writing his autobiography for the purpose of educating the youth. InPart Three Franklin describes his devotion to public utility. Part Four is thesupplement, recording his journey to Britain as an agent to defend the rightsfor colonial people.

This paper searches for the relevant foreignresearches in the Elsevier Science Direct database and Web of Science databaseand finds that critics overseas mainly

focus on Franklin's influence, his religion and morality, andhis public service. Several articles explore his identity construction andother specific topics. Some scholars pay attention to the influence of Franklinand his autobiography, such as the influence on moral philosophy that life isshort and happiness is found only in virtue. Other researchers focus onFranklin's religion and the influence of Puritanism, explain his religiousbeliefs that a reasonable deity exists in the universe and he shows no doubt tothe providential design of the world. Some studies take Franklin's ethics asthe research object, arguing that self-reflection with a goal towardself-improvement works as an effective way for Franklin to be a man with reasonand morality.

For what has beenpresented above, the majority of intelligent scholars analyze more on itssocial, ethical and religious influences, not its literary value. This paperfocuses on the literariness in The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,regarding The Autobiography as a literature work. As a classic work, TheAutobiography of Benjamin Franklin plays an important role in Americanliterature and is always regarded as the milestone in the development ofbiographic literature. As the example of individual success, it provides aparadigm of self-reliance and self-fulfillment. And this paper is designed toanalyze The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin in terms of its figures ofspeech: analogy, allusion and intertextuality. The perspective is new andoriginal. After the exploration, the readers are provided with a morefar-reaching perspective to read the novel. The analysis of this aspect makes betterunderstanding of both Benjamin Franklin himself and his book, from which weshall benefit from the inspiration and gains of his life experience thecharming of literary works in a deeper sense.{title}

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

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In this paper, the author mainly focuses on three types of figures ofspeech in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: analogy, allusion andintertextuality. In general, a figure of speech, or to say, rhetorical figureis figurative language in the form of a single word or phrase. The aim is touse the language inventively to accentuate the effect of what is being said. Itcan be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literalmeaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literalmeaning of the words. The author plans to illustrate those different techniquesthrough deeply analyzing the typical text in The Autobiography and to make somecomparisons with other similar texts, so as to present the functions of thosewriting methods, like providing articles with emphasis, freshness ofexpression, or clarity. For intertextuality,it is the interconnection between similar or related works of literature thatreflect and influence an audience's interpretation of the text. In this aspect,the author shall consider both literary meaning and cultural meaning of the twotexts.

To crystalize, the aim of this paper is to analyze literariness in TheAutobiography of Benjamin Franklin through elaborate details, examples andcomparisons, thus exploiting a special way of appreciating its literary value.

3. 参考文献

[1]Baker, J. J. (2000).BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND THE CREDIBILITY OF PERSONALITY. EarlyAmerican Literature, 35(3), 274.

[2]BOBKER, D. (2013).Intimate Points: The Dash in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Papers OnLanguage amp; Literature, 49(4), 415-443.