| The History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia Contributor(s): Johnson, Samuel (Author) |
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ISBN: 048644094X ISBN-13: 9780486440941 Publisher: Dover Publications OUR PRICE: $6.26 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2005 Annotation: The distinguished English writer's only novel provides a compelling glimpse of his moral views as he assails 18th-century optimism and man's unrealistic estimates of what life has to offer. Rasselas ponders such subjects as romantic love, flights of imagination, the great discoveries of science, and speculations about the meaning of happiness. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics |
| Dewey: 823.6 |
| LCCN: 2004061817 |
| Lexile Measure: 1240 |
| Series: Dover Books on Literature & Drama |
| Physical Information: 0.27" H x 5.56" W x 8.42" (0.27 lbs) 99 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Simply written, funny, and compulsively readable, this fine little book has been heralded as one of the finest examples of English prose and offers a compelling glimpse of Samuel Johnson's moral views. Dashed out over the course of a single week to pay for his mother's funeral, Johnson's only novel was the outcome of a lifetime's thoughts and experiences. A philosophical romance tracing the pilgrimage of an African prince and his companions to Egypt, Rasselas ponders a number of subjects -- romantic love, flights of imagination, the great discoveries of science, and speculations about the meaning of happiness -- all of which, Johnson implies, encourage man with false hopes and unrealistic estimates of what life has to offer. Directed specifically against eighteenth-century optimism and, more generally, against all simple formulas for achieving happiness, Rasselas has often been compared with Voltaire's Candide -- which was published only a few weeks before Johnson's work. Both novels have deservedly attained the status of classics. |