| | Franklin was highly regarded throughout Europe as a leader in science and diplomacy, and as the representative American and the symbol of the New World's integrity and progress. The intellectual, poltiical and scoial leaders of France viewed Franklin as the epitome of the enlightened legislator, a brilliant inventor, and perceptive economist. He inspired his contemporaries and successive generations of Frenchmen to eulogize him in the arts. His unassailable reputation also encouraged divergent political factions to claim Franklin as a mentor after his death in 1790. Franklin was a figure of the Enlightenment, two countries, and two revolutions and there are still reminders of him in France today.<ref> J. A. Leith, "Le Culte de Franklin en France avant et pendant la Révolution Française," ["France's Cult of Franklin before and during the French Revolution"]. ''Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française,'' 1976 226 48(4): 543-571. 0003-4436 </ref> | | Franklin was highly regarded throughout Europe as a leader in science and diplomacy, and as the representative American and the symbol of the New World's integrity and progress. The intellectual, poltiical and scoial leaders of France viewed Franklin as the epitome of the enlightened legislator, a brilliant inventor, and perceptive economist. He inspired his contemporaries and successive generations of Frenchmen to eulogize him in the arts. His unassailable reputation also encouraged divergent political factions to claim Franklin as a mentor after his death in 1790. Franklin was a figure of the Enlightenment, two countries, and two revolutions and there are still reminders of him in France today.<ref> J. A. Leith, "Le Culte de Franklin en France avant et pendant la Révolution Française," ["France's Cult of Franklin before and during the French Revolution"]. ''Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française,'' 1976 226 48(4): 543-571. 0003-4436 </ref> |
| − | While most historians have admired Franklin's achievements, British literary critic [[D. H. Lawrence]] ridiculed Franklin as excessivelyt middle class. Lawrence spent time in the United States in the 1920s but came to dislike the country. He focused on Franklin as a personification of American culture in two essays. Lawrence's disdain for Franklin was based largely in their different philosophies. Franklin felt man was perfectable, and could excel through hard work, while Lawrence saw man as an imperfect, creative, fragmented being, for whom the body and emotions are central to achieving happiness.<ref> Ormond Seavey, "D. H. Lawrence and 'The First Dummy American'." ''Georgia Review'' 1985 39(1): 113-128. 0016-8386; D. H. Lawrence, ''Studies in Classic American Literature'' (1923) </ref> | + | While most historians have admired Franklin's achievements, British literary critic [[D. H. Lawrence]] ridiculed Franklin as excessivelyt middle class. Lawrence spent time in the United States in the 1920s but came to dislike the country. He focused on Franklin as a personification of American culture in two essays. Lawrence's disdain for Franklin was based largely in their different philosophies. Franklin felt man was perfectable, and could excel through hard work, while Lawrence saw man as an imperfect, creative, fragmented being, for whom the body and emotions are central to achieving happiness.<ref> Ormond Seavey, "D. H. Lawrence and 'The First Dummy American'." ''Georgia Review'' 1985 39(1): 113-128. 0016-8386; D. H. Lawrence, ''Studies in Classic American Literature'' (1923), [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/LAWRENCE/dhlch02.htm online edition of ch. 2 on Franklin]</ref> |