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Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

Samuel Johnson

PhilosophyEnglish
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Rasselas, a prince of Abyssinia, lives with his brothers and sisters in the Happy Valley, a paradise enclosed by mountains where every pleasure is provided…

Catalogue details

Author
Samuel Johnson
Category
Philosophy
Language
English
Source
Project Gutenberg

About this book

Rasselas, a prince of Abyssinia, lives with his brothers and sisters in the Happy Valley, a paradise enclosed by mountains where every pleasure is provided, yet he is not happy. With his sister Nekayah, her maid and the poet-philosopher Imlac, he escapes through a passage in the mountain and travels to Cairo to discover how to make the choice of a happy life. They meet philosophers, shepherds, hermits, the rich and the powerful, visit the pyramids and the catacombs, and learn that no way of life brings perfect happiness.

Context and significance

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), the great English writer and lexicographer, is said to have written the tale in the evenings of a single week in 1759 to pay for his mother's funeral. A wise, melancholy fable, it appeared the same year as Voltaire's Candide, which it often resembles. Compare Hayy ibn Yaqzan.

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