Benjamin Franklin, The Pennyslvania Gazette

Alberto Lena (University of Exeter)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.1: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Colonial Period, 1604-1783.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Scott Slawinski (Western Michigan University)

Domains

Periodicals

Dates

First circulation or publication 1729 - 1755

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

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From 1729 to 1749 Franklin became the sole proprietor of

The Pennsylvania Gazette

. This newspaper had been launched by Samuel Keimer and it achieved moderate success until it was taken over by Franklin who made of

Gazette

one of the top newspapers of the colonies in the following decades.

Franklin devoted to the newspaper all the skills he had learned in Boston and London, plus what he had assimilated from his readings of Swift, Cotton Mather, Addison, Defoe, Trenchard, Shaftesbury and Bunyan, among others. In spite of these literary influences, Franklin developed a personal style characterised by vitriolic humour, a sense of the right phrase and boundless imagination. This was very much displayed in pieces such a “Letter of the Drum” (1739) and “A Witch Trial at Mount Holly”

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1251 words

Citation: Lena, Alberto. "The Pennyslvania Gazette". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 January 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7362, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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