First published by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1976 

Elkin was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1972 while living in Britain on a National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities Grant. In The Franchiser, the titular Ben Flesh suffers similar symptoms and is later hospitalized and diagnosed with MS on a visit to one of his many franchises across the country. This rare autobiographical element is joined by a rare (though still not explicit) social commentary on America’s cultural trends, as reflected in a protagonist more sympathetic this time than not. The difference for the reader may be in Flesh’s devotion to his god-family as well as to his vocation, and in his determination to live life when faced with an encroaching death.