Benjamin Franklin was an American politician, scientist, first-class diplomat and strategist. However, this18th century master of enlightenment culture admitted in a letter to a friend that his greatest wish in life was to become a writer. In more than 60 years of social activities, one thing is said to have bothered him the most-Thomas Jefferson was elected as the main author of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress (Franklin was only one of the five-member group)-because the participants were generally worried that "Franklin would bury a cold joke somewhere in the Declaration of Independence", thus affecting the seriousness of the document. In fact, from another perspective, this case just shows that Franklin's reputation as a humorous writer has been recognized all over the world.

Franklin wrote many things in his life. American scholar Robert Shpiller spoke highly of Franklin's literary creation (including letters and essays). He believes: "In Franklin's life experience, his works and his career complement each other." Franklin's science pamphlets are often read not only at home, but also at intellectual gatherings in London and Paris. Franklin's satirical articles on Britain's stupid colonial policy are full of jokes and witty remarks, which can be compared with Swift's or Voltaire's political satirical poems. Franklin's works not only have a wide range of themes, but also have diverse styles—for example, the letters to Joseph priestley, Lord Camus and david hartley are solemn, while the charming notes to young women on both sides of the Atlantic are full of frivolous but not excessive advice. Perhaps the most attractive thing about Franklin in his later years is his relaxed and happy side-his epistolary prose "Bagat Le", "Dialogue between Franklin and Gerth" and "Whistle". -"In these epistolary essays, irony sublimated into whimsy, and his love for life comedy became the source of profound wisdom." Unfortunately, Franklin's humorous jokes are often difficult to spread around the world because of the hypocrisy of textbook editors.

Although Franklin's writing is not good at literature, his writing is unpretentious and full of humor, which makes him unique among American writers in the18th century. In his masterpiece, Benjamin Franklin introduced that in addition to the autobiography aimed at educating future generations of young people, there is also an influential "Poor Richard Yearbook". The autobiography describes Franklin's family background, his self-study and work as a teenager, his main experiences and activities before 1757, and his achievements in politics, economy and science. This book reflects the author's determination to strive for progress in self-study, entrepreneurship, research and struggle, and is hailed as a "shining model of self-education", which has had a far-reaching impact on the American people's outlook on life, morality and occupation. Franklin inspired Americans' moral ethics in the18th century and helped them move towards democracy. Max Weber believes that his ethical thoughts not only influenced Americans, but also promoted the whole Europe and the world. Therefore, British politician William Pitt commented: "Franklin belongs not only to the United States, but also to the whole world."

Like the starting point of autobiography, Poor Richard's Yearbook is made for the purpose of educating people and is humorous. "I tried my best to make it interesting and educational," he later recalled. "So, I filled in the small gaps left in the calendar on those noteworthy days, mainly those that advised people to be diligent and frugal, making it difficult for the poor to always do things honestly, just like putting an empty pocket on it." These aphorisms, such as "if you talk too much, you will lose"; "Pleasure consumes the mind"; "Don't do things you don't understand"; "Jealousy is the daughter of ignorance"; "One dog can't catch two rabbits"; "Humility brings double fame to great men"; "Fish and guests will stink on the third day"; "Small leaks sink a big ship" "If you want to convince others, it is better to talk about interests than reason"; He appreciates every word you say, so you can't help him. "It is slower to find friends and slower to change friends"; "Poverty, poetry and new titles can drive people crazy"; "If you want a lot, a lot will become a little"; "Ants don't preach, just go forward"; "Diligence can pay off debts, and despair will only lead to high debts"; "Open your eyes wide before marriage and half close your eyes after marriage" and so on. Most of them are concise and funny, which can be said to condense the philosophy of life of American immigrant society, which can not only provide enough material for family reading, but also provide life guidance for people. In this kind of works, Franklin made no secret of his pragmatic writing view. He said: "If an author writes for a certain kind of readers, the form and method he adopts must adapt to the special tastes of these readers."

During the War of Independence, Franklin also wrote some essays about Benjamin Franklin, which were full of witty aphorisms and fierce satire, such as The Law of Making a Great Empire Smaller and The Decree of the Prussian Emperor. These articles use Swift's satire, Defoe's exaggeration and other literary techniques to reveal the injustice of Britain's war. It is worth mentioning that Franklin developed the habit of expressing himself with humble words in his creation. This self-deprecating figure is one of the most popular images in the history of American humor. Franklin regarded this as an obstacle to self-protection, and at the same time won the general recognition of American readers with low educational level at that time. John adams, who served as the ambassador to France with Franklin, concluded: "Franklin is good at satire and sarcasm. He likes Horace, Swift or rabelais. He has a gift for making satire, allegory and fable, and he can use excellent skills to promote the development of morality and practical truth. " In fact, Selling Mercenaries, regarded as Franklin's satirical masterpiece, best embodies this skill. This book describes a greedy German count who was ecstatic when he heard that his troops sent to North America suffered a massacre at the Battle of Trenton-because it meant that he was about to have another big deal. Here, Franklin combined the irony strategy in Swift's A Little Advice with the extreme exaggeration in American absurd stories, which enriched the humor with American elements and characteristics (writers such as Mark Twain also inherited this literary tradition in the future).

As a writer, Franklin's writing habit is that everything must be recorded in writing. He wrote a paper on the outstanding achievements in electrical research and sent it to the Royal Society, which made the arrogant British people sit up and take notice of the scientific achievements of the colonies. For the new things he invented, such as new stoves, lightning rods and bifocal glasses, he will also take pains to write popular science articles and introduce their functions. He invented the glass piano in 1763, which is a set of glassware placed in a horizontal spindle. The spindle is filled with water by the player's pedal, and then sounds through the subtle friction of fingers. This instrument is called Harmony, which is the embryonic form of modern piano. It is very popular in Europe, and it is said that even Antoinette, the queen of France, is fascinated. And Franklin's self-promotion advertisement soft text also adds a lot of color to it.

In addition to scientific works, Franklin also made many inventions in the field of social sciences. For example, he first put forward the theory of demography. As we all know, thomas malthus's famous prediction is that the "arithmetic" speed of food growth can't keep up with the "geometric" growth of population; However, few people know that this theory is actually deeply influenced by Franklin. Franklin studied the population growth of North America from 65438 to 2007, and found that the population growth rate of the United States was the fastest on the earth at that time-doubling every 20 years-and would surpass that of Britain within a century. He also stressed that population growth will ultimately depend on the supply of food. Franklin published his research anonymously in Boston and reprinted it in Britain soon. Adam Smith and Malthus were very interested in his research results and absorbed them into their respective works.

Similarly, Franklin's innovations and inventions in economic theory and practice are often ignored. 1723, Pennsylvania first issued paper money. 1726, some banknotes were recovered, and the market was short of money. The currency problem became a rather acute problem in economic life at that time. Franklin was in favor of issuing more paper money and believed that issuing more paper money had great benefits. He wrote in his autobiography: "Our debate made me very interested in this topic. I wrote and published an anonymous booklet called "The Nature and Necessity of Paper Money". "Franklin pointed out in his book that a country with free trade must have a balanced amount of money. More or less than this amount is not good for trade. Then, he further discussed whether a large number of additional paper money would greatly reduce its value. To answer this question, he said: "First of all, we should establish a correct concept about the nature and value of general money"-it is in this part that he expounded the labor theory of value. After the publication of this booklet, it was welcomed by ordinary people, but it was opposed by the rich. Finally, the parliament passed the bill to issue more paper money by an overwhelming majority.

What's more, Franklin's article "Several Issues on National Wealth Need to be Studied" published in 1769 also tries to demonstrate his labor theory of value historically, analyze the composition of value and explain the source of profit from the production activities of material materials necessary for human life. Among them, hard work is particularly advocated to get rich-he advocates that "in any case, all means should be taken to encourage and protect any form of hard work; Laziness should be eradicated by all possible means. " Because idleness is a kind of "uncompensated consumption" He advocates housewives to make use of their free time after doing housework. The sum of spare time in a year is very considerable for a family, and correspondingly for the whole country. His motto is: "To lose time is to lose livelihood and thus lose wealth." This is also the earliest origin of the adage "Time is money". In this regard, Marx once commented: "One of the earliest economists, the famous Franklin, saw the essence of value after william petty, and almost saw that value was created by abstract labor. He said:' Since trade is just an exchange between one kind of labor and another, it is most correct to measure all values by labor. Marx greatly appreciated Franklin's profound insight into value, calling it "the budding view of duality of labor". Marx himself quoted and commented it as a very original point of view in Das Kapital.

In addition, Franklin's major works include Notes on American Immigrants and North American Barbarian War Review. He introduced the real situation of the United States to the whole of Europe with the book "Instructions for Immigration to the United States", and refuted the wrong view of European arrogance. "This is all a rambling imagination ... The fact is that although the people in that country are rarely as poor as the poor in Europe, there are very few people called rich in Europe ... The United States is a place of labor, and no one can get it for nothing there." In addition, in view of Europeans' prejudice against Indians, he wrote a satirical and pungent Review of North American Barbarian Wars: "We call them barbarians because their behavior is different from ours, and we think ours is civilized and perfect; They think their own is the same ... no violence, no prison, no officials forcing obedience or punishment. Indian women cultivate the land, prepare meals, take care of and raise children, and preserve and pass on their remembered methods of handling public affairs to future generations. The activities these men and women are engaged in are based on nature ... Compared with them, our tired lifestyle is regarded as humble and low by them; The knowledge we cherish ourselves is regarded as frivolous and useless by them. " Finally, he said: "If we look at the lifestyles of different ethnic groups impartially, we will find that no ethnic group is impolite, no ethnic group is polite, and there is no residue of rudeness." David hume, a contemporary British philosopher, declared that Franklin was the "greatest scholar" at that time, because his compassion and noble humanity transcended race, color and region.

As for Franklin's creative career, abrams, a famous American critic, brilliantly pointed out: "Among all the literati of our time, Benjamin Franklin is second to none in elegance, philosophical accuracy and observation depth. Every theme he discusses appears in his works in a more novel and attractive way than others. Politics, religion and science have always been boring subjects. He can entertain and educate through moral fables and legends, and his taste is elegant. " At the same time, as a representative of American pragmatic philosophy, Franklin was the first writer who publicly defended "market-oriented writing" (he thought that writing was neither a moral sermon nor a tool of public opinion in the revolution)-in his view, writing should not only express itself, but also face the public, thus winning market recognition. American scholar Jackson Wilson defined Franklin as the first "professional writer" in the strict sense before and after the American Revolution in his new book Rhetoric: American Writers and the Literary Market, from Franklin to Emily Dickinson.