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The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
Rasselas --regarded as Johnson's most creative work--presents the story of the journey of Rasselas and his companions in search of "the choice of life." Its charm lies not in its plot, but rather in its wise and humane look at man's constant search for happiness. The text is based on the
second edition as Samuel Johnson revised it.
second edition as Samuel Johnson revised it.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1759
About the author
Samuel Johnson
4,052 books377 followersPeople note British writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, known as "Doctor Johnson," for his
Dictionary of the English Language
(1755), for
Lives of the Poets
(1781), and for his series of essays, published under the titles
The Rambler
(1752) and
The Idler
(1758).
Samuel Johnson used the first consistent Universal Etymological English Dictionary , first published in 1721, of British lexicographer Nathan Bailey as a reference.
Beginning as a journalist on Grub street, this English author made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, and editor. People described Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history." James Boswell subjected him to Life of Samuel Johnson , one of the most celebrated biographies in English. This biography alongside other biographies, documented behavior and mannerisms of Johnson in such detail that they informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome (TS), a condition unknown to 18th-century physicians. He presented a tall and robust figure, but his odd gestures and tics confused some persons on their first encounters.
Johnson attended Pembroke college, Oxford for a year before his lack of funds compelled him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write essays for The Gentleman's Magazine. His early works include the biography The Life of Richard Savage and the poem " The Vanity of Human Wishes ." Christian morality permeated works of Johnson, a devout and compassionate man. He, a conservative Anglican, nevertheless respected persons of other denominations that demonstrated a commitment to teachings of Christ.
After nine years of work, people in 1755 published his preeminent Dictionary of the English Language, bringing him popularity and success until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1905, a century and a half later. In the following years, he published essays, an influential annotated edition of plays of William Shakespeare, and the well-read novel Rasselas . In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland , travel narrative of Johnson, described the journey. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets , which includes biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.
After a series of illnesses, Johnson died on the evening; people buried his body in Westminster abbey. In the years following death, people began to recognize a lasting effect of Samuel Johnson on literary criticism even as the only great critic of English literature.
Samuel Johnson used the first consistent Universal Etymological English Dictionary , first published in 1721, of British lexicographer Nathan Bailey as a reference.
Beginning as a journalist on Grub street, this English author made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, and editor. People described Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history." James Boswell subjected him to Life of Samuel Johnson , one of the most celebrated biographies in English. This biography alongside other biographies, documented behavior and mannerisms of Johnson in such detail that they informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome (TS), a condition unknown to 18th-century physicians. He presented a tall and robust figure, but his odd gestures and tics confused some persons on their first encounters.
Johnson attended Pembroke college, Oxford for a year before his lack of funds compelled him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write essays for The Gentleman's Magazine. His early works include the biography The Life of Richard Savage and the poem " The Vanity of Human Wishes ." Christian morality permeated works of Johnson, a devout and compassionate man. He, a conservative Anglican, nevertheless respected persons of other denominations that demonstrated a commitment to teachings of Christ.
After nine years of work, people in 1755 published his preeminent Dictionary of the English Language, bringing him popularity and success until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1905, a century and a half later. In the following years, he published essays, an influential annotated edition of plays of William Shakespeare, and the well-read novel Rasselas . In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland , travel narrative of Johnson, described the journey. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets , which includes biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.
After a series of illnesses, Johnson died on the evening; people buried his body in Westminster abbey. In the years following death, people began to recognize a lasting effect of Samuel Johnson on literary criticism even as the only great critic of English literature.
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June 18, 2019
Written in one week to defray the cost of his mother's funeral, Johnson's moral tale is a superior example of the prose of its era, and its era—the Age of Enlightenment—is renowned for the quality of its prose. It is true that Candide—written in 1759, the same year as Rasselas--excels Johnson's work in both wit and humor, but then Voltaire's task was much easier. He merely wished to demolish another man's philosophy, whereas Johnson wished to persuade his readers how to be happy.
Being happy wasn't easy for Johnson. He suffered from poor eyesight, facial scarring from scrofula, intense irritability, OCD, Tourette's, and thoughts of suicide. He also was afflicted with severe depression in his youth, so profoundly that—as he once told a friend--“he was sometimes so languid and inefficient that he could not distinguish the hour upon the town-clock.” How did he withstand such obstacles? By keeping his fancies and wishes private, applying himself assiduously to the task at hand, and enjoying whatever happiness arose from his labors.
It should be no surprise that Johnson's personal method is similar to the moral of his tale. When Rasselas of Abyssinia becomes discontented with “The Happy Valley,” where his every whim is catered to, he departs, with his sister, her companion, and his tutor to explore the condition of the world. The four of them have many adventures, experiencing much pleasure and pain, but nothing offers them real satisfaction (except for the enduring promise of heaven). After discoursing on various philosophical topics, they conclude that the greatest wisdom would be to return from where they came, embracing their destiny in “The Happy Valley'.
As a sample of Johnson's measured, deliberate prose, I offer the following excerpt from a discourse on the relative merits of the monastic and secular life:
Those men, answered Imlac, are less wretched in their silent convent than the Abissinian princes in their prison of pleasure. Whatever is done by the monks is incited by an adequate and reasonable motive. Their labour supplies them with necessaries; it therefore cannot be omitted, and is certainly rewarded. Their devotion prepares them for another state, and reminds them of its approach, while it fits them for it. Their time is regularly distributed; one duty succeeds another, so that they are not left open to the distraction of unguided choice, nor lost in the shades of listless inactivity, There is a certain task to be performed at an appropriated hour; and their toils are cheerful, because they consider them as acts of piety, by which they are always advancing towards endless felicity.”
“Do you think, said Nekayah, that the monastick rule is a more holy and less imperfect state than any other? May not he equally hope for future happiness who converses openly with mankind, who succours the distressed by his charity, instructs the ignorant by his learning, and contributes by his industry to the general system of life; even though he should omit some of the mortifications which are practised in the cloister, and allow himself such harmless delights as his condition may place within his reach?”
“This, said Imlac, is a question which has long divided the wise, and perplexed the good. I am afraid to decide on either part. He that lives well in the world is better than he that lives well in a monastery. But, perhaps, every one is not able to stem the temptations of publick life; and, if he cannot conquer, he may properly retreat. Some have little power to do good, and have likewise little strength to resist evil. Many weary of their conflicts with adversity, and are willing to eject those passions which have long busied them in vain. And many are dismissed by age and diseases from the more laborious duties of society. In monasteries the weak and timorous may be happily sheltered, the weary may repose, and the penitent may meditate. Those retreats of prayer and contemplation have something so congenial to the mind of man that, perhaps, there is scarcely one that does not purpose to close his life in pious abstraction with a few associates serious as himself.”
August 29, 2014
Dr Johnson’s foray into fiction is an oddity. The themes are similar to Candide and they were written at pretty much the same time. For different reasons.
Johnson famously said “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money”. His only novel was no exception. In January 1759 his mother became ill and Johnson needed money to support her and pay her medical bills. He wrote Rasselas in a week, in the evenings. He received one hundred pounds for it and it ended up paying for his mother’s funeral as well.
Like Candide it was meant to be a critique of the philosophy in vogue at the time; the general optimism that everything works out well. It is set in North Africa; Abyssinia and Egypt.
Rasselas is a prince of Abyssinia; his father the emperor has an infallible means of stopping rivalry for the throne by making sure all who challenge him live together in an enclosed valley. They live in absolute luxury and want for nothing. The catch is they cannot leave. Rasselas becomes inquisitive about the outside world and speaks to those who have lived out there. He spends time with a man of science (all needs are catered for) who speculates that they might be able to build something that will enable they to fly out. This enables Johnson to be prophetic about humanity conquering flight saying that it would be a disaster because of the implications of being able to move armies and arms around too quickly (got that one right Dr J!) The flight idea is a flop and eventually it is a philosopher called Imlac who works out a way of escape (geeks win again!). Rasselas and Imlac are accompanied by his sister Nekayah and her attendant Pekuah.
They wander around Egypt and explore the monastic life, life devoted to learning, wisdom and science, the pastoral life, poverty, power and rulers. There is a good deal of rather irritating philosophising and debate and some repetition (even for a short novel). Inevitably they find all ways of life have their drawbacks and everyone wishes they had picked a different track and everyone wishes they could be young again. They go round in circles for a bit and get absolutely nowhere and head back to their valley.
However there is a little off the wall conclusion as part of the last chapter. Each of them decide on an ideal course if they were able to do what they wanted. Imlac, the philosopher wanted to drift around the world examining all these different ways of life. Rasselas wanted a small kingdom where he could have enough control to ensure everything was justly run and his subjects happy. Pekuah wanted to join a convent and be a nun. Rasselas’s sister Nekayah wanted to found “a college of learned women” where women could learn sciences and the wisdom of the world (didn’t see that one coming I must admit).
All in all a mixed bag; Johnson isn’t exactly fluent and you can tell it was written in a rush. However it was redeemed by some interesting ideas and speculations and Dr Johnson suggesting a university for women would be a good idea in 1759.
Johnson famously said “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money”. His only novel was no exception. In January 1759 his mother became ill and Johnson needed money to support her and pay her medical bills. He wrote Rasselas in a week, in the evenings. He received one hundred pounds for it and it ended up paying for his mother’s funeral as well.
Like Candide it was meant to be a critique of the philosophy in vogue at the time; the general optimism that everything works out well. It is set in North Africa; Abyssinia and Egypt.
Rasselas is a prince of Abyssinia; his father the emperor has an infallible means of stopping rivalry for the throne by making sure all who challenge him live together in an enclosed valley. They live in absolute luxury and want for nothing. The catch is they cannot leave. Rasselas becomes inquisitive about the outside world and speaks to those who have lived out there. He spends time with a man of science (all needs are catered for) who speculates that they might be able to build something that will enable they to fly out. This enables Johnson to be prophetic about humanity conquering flight saying that it would be a disaster because of the implications of being able to move armies and arms around too quickly (got that one right Dr J!) The flight idea is a flop and eventually it is a philosopher called Imlac who works out a way of escape (geeks win again!). Rasselas and Imlac are accompanied by his sister Nekayah and her attendant Pekuah.
They wander around Egypt and explore the monastic life, life devoted to learning, wisdom and science, the pastoral life, poverty, power and rulers. There is a good deal of rather irritating philosophising and debate and some repetition (even for a short novel). Inevitably they find all ways of life have their drawbacks and everyone wishes they had picked a different track and everyone wishes they could be young again. They go round in circles for a bit and get absolutely nowhere and head back to their valley.
However there is a little off the wall conclusion as part of the last chapter. Each of them decide on an ideal course if they were able to do what they wanted. Imlac, the philosopher wanted to drift around the world examining all these different ways of life. Rasselas wanted a small kingdom where he could have enough control to ensure everything was justly run and his subjects happy. Pekuah wanted to join a convent and be a nun. Rasselas’s sister Nekayah wanted to found “a college of learned women” where women could learn sciences and the wisdom of the world (didn’t see that one coming I must admit).
All in all a mixed bag; Johnson isn’t exactly fluent and you can tell it was written in a rush. However it was redeemed by some interesting ideas and speculations and Dr Johnson suggesting a university for women would be a good idea in 1759.
December 29, 2019
A passing acquaintance with Samuel Johnson will reveal that the man could write splendidly. He possessed, by all accounts, an unapproachable intellect. His literary works are reminiscent of Voltaire's: witty, erudite, vast, and infinitely readable. His travel accounts and the biography by Boswell are considered paragons of their genre.
Sadly, Rasselas is his only true novel, and it is a short one. The rest of his corpulent corpus was composed of a book-length literary evaluation of Shakespeare's plays, biographies of major poets, an important (in its time) and well-crafted dictionary of the English language, and serial publications, which when compiled, are enjoyable "agony-uncle" style epistolary philosophical tracts. Take almost any sampling of his work, and you are almost guaranteed to be delighted - if you delight in profound insight into the nature of the human soul and its relation to the world. His sentences are complex, daunting, but continually stimulating. Rasselas, more so than The Rambler, is probably the best introduction to his work. It is not exactly a masterpiece, but is is far more interesting, in my opinion, than his plays and poems (the only other things he wrote which can be digested without much effort).
Written for quick money in the space of a week, this charming novella, in the style of Candide or A Voyage to the Moon by Cyrano de Bergerac (if that means anything to you), is nonetheless a brilliant morale tale, both timeless and grounded in the atmosphere of Johnson's mind (an intellectual Christian moralist, who sympathized with common folk), even if it takes place in Abyssinia, and various points along the map traversed by its sentimental characters. I found it to be a picaresque read, and enjoyed the analysis of the relative merits of different approaches to life - themes later explored at exhaustive length in The Rambler.
You have the prince, who wishes to experience the world, and who must do so at the expense of the luxury he is entitled to. Of course, he travels in style, sampling temples and lively districts, and encountering unexpected wonders, similarly to Gulliver during his sojourn. It is not a scathing critique and contains very little of a risque nature, as in Voltaire, but that makes it all the more approachable in my mind, and enjoyable to casual readers.
Samuel Johnson is a writer to enjoy over a lifetime, one to study. One of the giants of literary history, comparing him to Voltaire and Goethe is only a slight exaggeration of his powers. His strengths lie in the didactic discussion, which will become readily apparent if you embark on his great later works, which I have been doggy-paddling through slowly for some years, since the Rambler, not to mention the Idler, and his seemingly endless, encyclopedic miscellanies is a daunting task indeed.
Sadly, Rasselas is his only true novel, and it is a short one. The rest of his corpulent corpus was composed of a book-length literary evaluation of Shakespeare's plays, biographies of major poets, an important (in its time) and well-crafted dictionary of the English language, and serial publications, which when compiled, are enjoyable "agony-uncle" style epistolary philosophical tracts. Take almost any sampling of his work, and you are almost guaranteed to be delighted - if you delight in profound insight into the nature of the human soul and its relation to the world. His sentences are complex, daunting, but continually stimulating. Rasselas, more so than The Rambler, is probably the best introduction to his work. It is not exactly a masterpiece, but is is far more interesting, in my opinion, than his plays and poems (the only other things he wrote which can be digested without much effort).
Written for quick money in the space of a week, this charming novella, in the style of Candide or A Voyage to the Moon by Cyrano de Bergerac (if that means anything to you), is nonetheless a brilliant morale tale, both timeless and grounded in the atmosphere of Johnson's mind (an intellectual Christian moralist, who sympathized with common folk), even if it takes place in Abyssinia, and various points along the map traversed by its sentimental characters. I found it to be a picaresque read, and enjoyed the analysis of the relative merits of different approaches to life - themes later explored at exhaustive length in The Rambler.
You have the prince, who wishes to experience the world, and who must do so at the expense of the luxury he is entitled to. Of course, he travels in style, sampling temples and lively districts, and encountering unexpected wonders, similarly to Gulliver during his sojourn. It is not a scathing critique and contains very little of a risque nature, as in Voltaire, but that makes it all the more approachable in my mind, and enjoyable to casual readers.
Samuel Johnson is a writer to enjoy over a lifetime, one to study. One of the giants of literary history, comparing him to Voltaire and Goethe is only a slight exaggeration of his powers. His strengths lie in the didactic discussion, which will become readily apparent if you embark on his great later works, which I have been doggy-paddling through slowly for some years, since the Rambler, not to mention the Idler, and his seemingly endless, encyclopedic miscellanies is a daunting task indeed.
July 15, 2015
If you think this is too ,too old hat for you then perhaps the fact that Jane Austen was a BIG fan may break down your prejudices. And pride? She loved and inherited Johnson's neoclassical balance of style exemplified in such of his sentences as:"Remarriage is the triumph of hope over experience" and "Marriage has many pains but celibacy has no pleasures." See where Jane tapped into that conciseness, wit and wisdom now ?
And both of these sentences are to be found in the enchanting philosophical fable of Rasselas, the Prince, who with his friends escapes from the perfection of his life in the Happy Valley to discover the miseries of the outside world so that he may truly understand and appreciate happiness and in what it really consists.
If you think your endurance low, never fear. Like a fable it is all bite-sized, consisting of little more than one hundred pages divided into forty-nine chapters. And when it is all charming, clever, wise and witty and written in a style and vocabulary both direct, simple yet original and a little antiquated you can get some of the flavour of another time and another place.
Like me, you may find yourself keen to return to this world of honest, gentle wisdom which pulls no punches,but soothes one's soul.(Crumbs, I'm beginning to sound like Johnson.)And you may become curious about its author and venture into the many available biographies especially the famous one by his friend James Boswell.
And read your Jane Austen with a new appreciation.
Aren't books wonderful??!!
And both of these sentences are to be found in the enchanting philosophical fable of Rasselas, the Prince, who with his friends escapes from the perfection of his life in the Happy Valley to discover the miseries of the outside world so that he may truly understand and appreciate happiness and in what it really consists.
If you think your endurance low, never fear. Like a fable it is all bite-sized, consisting of little more than one hundred pages divided into forty-nine chapters. And when it is all charming, clever, wise and witty and written in a style and vocabulary both direct, simple yet original and a little antiquated you can get some of the flavour of another time and another place.
Like me, you may find yourself keen to return to this world of honest, gentle wisdom which pulls no punches,but soothes one's soul.(Crumbs, I'm beginning to sound like Johnson.)And you may become curious about its author and venture into the many available biographies especially the famous one by his friend James Boswell.
And read your Jane Austen with a new appreciation.
Aren't books wonderful??!!
April 14, 2011
A bored rich prince gets tired of his boring rich life, and decides to escape the so-called Happy Valley where he lives/is imprisoned to learn about real life and what it means to be happy. Along for the ride are a poet who's lived outside the Happy Valley before, the prince's sister, and her maid. The group travels around for a while and meets a lot of different people, none of whom are really happy. This is all an excuse for Johnson to ramble philosophically and repeat the same points over and over again.
All in all, kind of forgettable and not very exciting. But the reading experience improves a lot if you imagine that Prince Rasselas looks like this.
Read for: Colonial Imagination
All in all, kind of forgettable and not very exciting. But the reading experience improves a lot if you imagine that Prince Rasselas looks like this.
Read for: Colonial Imagination
May 25, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05vsyz1Description: An intriguing, contemporary take on Samuel Johnson's classic tale of an African prince in search of happiness.
A star cast is led by Ashley Zhangazha as Rasselas, Jeff Rawle as Samuel Johnson and Lucian Msamati - the RSC's first black Iago - as the poet Imlac. Singer and actor Cynthia Erivo makes her BBC radio drama debut as Princess Nekayah.
Recorded on location at Dr Johnson's House, 17 Gough Square, in the City of London - the very place where over 260 years ago, Johnson compiled his famous dictionary and then in January 1759, wrote his instant bestseller 'Rasselas' in a week, to pay for his mother's funeral.
Acclaimed 18th century philosophy fuels a contemporary desert road trip in this inventive and playful adaptation by Jonathan Holloway. Period and modern collide in a satirical fantasy as Rasselas and his companions follow their quest for happiness and purpose to Cairo, where they encounter Arab Spring revolutionaries.
Jonathan Holloway's drama also incorporates a compelling glimpse of Johnson himself - the lonely, 50-year-old celebrity and writer, in debt, in poor health, and missing his young Jamaican manservant, Francis Barber, who had run away to sea. Born a slave, Barber was freed at Johnson's insistence and treated kindly by him.
Johnson had struggled through many years of poverty before moving to Gough Square and becoming a highly respected writer. 'Rasselas', his singular, progressive rumination on human happiness, is his only novel and his most popular work.
Samuel Johnson Jeff Rawle
Arthur Murphy Kevin Trainor
Princess Nekayah Cynthia Erivo
Prince Rasselas Ashley Zhangazha
April 10, 2012
I'm giving this five stars, because it's right up my alley style-wise (the Eastern pilgrimage tale), and I can't stop thinking about some clever points made even early on. It's sort of Gibran's The Prophet meets Candide, but with a more plausible outcome than either. I cannot find anything to complain about it in this novel.
A few of my favorites: At the tail of Chapter 13, Imlac warns Rasselas about belief in omens, "Do not disturb your mind with other hopes and fears than reason may suggest. If you are pleased with prognostics of good, you will be terrified likewise with tokens of evil, and your whole life will be a prey to superstition." In Chapter 18, Imlac says "Be not too hasty to trust or to admire the teachers of morality. They discourse like angels, but they live like men."
In chapter 44, Imlac tells of an astronomer of great renown and genius, who confesses to him that he believes himself to be in control of the weather, and worries that he might destroy the world if he doesn't pay close attention. The characters discuss at length the prevalence of bouts of madness among superior intellects, and the problem is resolved through their intervention (the astronomer becomes part of their retinue, and eventually confesses the delusion). I was amazed that such a complex and psychological character could emerge from an 18th century satire. "All power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity … It is not pronounced madness but when it becomes ungovernable…" I wonder how much eccentricity could be forgiven under this formula?
Probably the best quote is from the tail of chapter 11, and sums up most of the concept I believe Johnson wished to convey. "Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed." This may seem dark to some, but I think it's a pretty balanced and wise statement about expectation.
A few of my favorites: At the tail of Chapter 13, Imlac warns Rasselas about belief in omens, "Do not disturb your mind with other hopes and fears than reason may suggest. If you are pleased with prognostics of good, you will be terrified likewise with tokens of evil, and your whole life will be a prey to superstition." In Chapter 18, Imlac says "Be not too hasty to trust or to admire the teachers of morality. They discourse like angels, but they live like men."
In chapter 44, Imlac tells of an astronomer of great renown and genius, who confesses to him that he believes himself to be in control of the weather, and worries that he might destroy the world if he doesn't pay close attention. The characters discuss at length the prevalence of bouts of madness among superior intellects, and the problem is resolved through their intervention (the astronomer becomes part of their retinue, and eventually confesses the delusion). I was amazed that such a complex and psychological character could emerge from an 18th century satire. "All power of fancy over reason is a degree of insanity … It is not pronounced madness but when it becomes ungovernable…" I wonder how much eccentricity could be forgiven under this formula?
Probably the best quote is from the tail of chapter 11, and sums up most of the concept I believe Johnson wished to convey. "Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed." This may seem dark to some, but I think it's a pretty balanced and wise statement about expectation.
October 17, 2023
My thanks to libro.fm and Naxos AudioBooks for an ALC of this book to listen to and review.
Got to 23% and hard stop. I'm sorry, but the whole premise of keeping the next in line to the throne secluded in a kind of Shangra-la so he didn't learn about the negativity in the world until he joined it to be the next king made NO sense. How would he be able to handle the evil that men can and do if he's never been exposed to it?
Add on top of that the 1759 attitude of "white Europeans are just SOOOOO much better and more civilized and more intelligent then the Asians and Africans" being bandied about by the non-Europeans in this book and I tapped out.
I know, I know, it isn't right to view past thoughts and beliefs with current viewpoints, but I felt really gross listening to it and decided life is too short and decided to DNF.
1, I can't recommend it unless you are into classic literature, but this is one we might be able to let die, just saying, stars.
Got to 23% and hard stop. I'm sorry, but the whole premise of keeping the next in line to the throne secluded in a kind of Shangra-la so he didn't learn about the negativity in the world until he joined it to be the next king made NO sense. How would he be able to handle the evil that men can and do if he's never been exposed to it?
Add on top of that the 1759 attitude of "white Europeans are just SOOOOO much better and more civilized and more intelligent then the Asians and Africans" being bandied about by the non-Europeans in this book and I tapped out.
I know, I know, it isn't right to view past thoughts and beliefs with current viewpoints, but I felt really gross listening to it and decided life is too short and decided to DNF.
1, I can't recommend it unless you are into classic literature, but this is one we might be able to let die, just saying, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2017
3.5*
I found many interesting ideas in this classic but overall felt it was an uneasy mixture of philosophy and satire. Rasselas is bored in the Happy Valley in which all the offspring of Abyssinian royalty were confined (along with their servants & others required for their comfort and amusement) because, as he says himself, " 'That I want nothing,' said the Prince, 'or that I know not what I want, is the cause of my complaint: if I had any known want, I should have a certain wish; that wish would excite endeavour, and I should not then repine to see the sun move so slowly towards the western mountains, or to lament when the day breaks, and sleep will no longer hide me from myself.' " One of his advisors chides him saying that he didn't know what miseries the outer world contained & the Prince decides that "I shall long to see the miseries of the world, since the sight of them is necessary to happiness."
For a while, he is happy contemplating how he will escape the valley as that gives him an interest in life & he eventually meets a poet, Imlac, who had lived outside the boundaries of the valley & in fact had travelled widely before settling there. In telling Rasselas his story, they discuss what makes for happiness. Imlac declares that "Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed." but the Prince is unwilling to accept this verdict. He invites Imlac to help him escape the valley & become his companion and guide. At the last minute, they are joined by Rasselas's favorite sister Princess Nekayah & her favorite attendant Pekuah.
With Imlac's assistance, Rasselas & Nekayah gradually adjust to life outside the Happy Valley and begin to investigate what kind of life is best. They meet many different types of people -- city society (in Cairo), a wise guru, a hermit, an astronomer, an Arab bandit, etc. They debate the nature of marriage & whether married life is required for true happiness. Somewhat surprisingly to me, Nekayah is the one who thinks marriage does not contribute to happiness but rather causes unhappiness, which she backs up with examples of married couples she has come to know.
During all this, Rasselas is trying to find the correct "choice of life" for himself. Johnson keeps returning to the question of whether solitude or society is better. As the hermit remarks: "In solitude, if I escape the example of bad men, I want likewise the counsel and conversation of the good."
I found many interesting ideas in this classic but overall felt it was an uneasy mixture of philosophy and satire. Rasselas is bored in the Happy Valley in which all the offspring of Abyssinian royalty were confined (along with their servants & others required for their comfort and amusement) because, as he says himself, " 'That I want nothing,' said the Prince, 'or that I know not what I want, is the cause of my complaint: if I had any known want, I should have a certain wish; that wish would excite endeavour, and I should not then repine to see the sun move so slowly towards the western mountains, or to lament when the day breaks, and sleep will no longer hide me from myself.' " One of his advisors chides him saying that he didn't know what miseries the outer world contained & the Prince decides that "I shall long to see the miseries of the world, since the sight of them is necessary to happiness."
For a while, he is happy contemplating how he will escape the valley as that gives him an interest in life & he eventually meets a poet, Imlac, who had lived outside the boundaries of the valley & in fact had travelled widely before settling there. In telling Rasselas his story, they discuss what makes for happiness. Imlac declares that "Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed." but the Prince is unwilling to accept this verdict. He invites Imlac to help him escape the valley & become his companion and guide. At the last minute, they are joined by Rasselas's favorite sister Princess Nekayah & her favorite attendant Pekuah.
With Imlac's assistance, Rasselas & Nekayah gradually adjust to life outside the Happy Valley and begin to investigate what kind of life is best. They meet many different types of people -- city society (in Cairo), a wise guru, a hermit, an astronomer, an Arab bandit, etc. They debate the nature of marriage & whether married life is required for true happiness. Somewhat surprisingly to me, Nekayah is the one who thinks marriage does not contribute to happiness but rather causes unhappiness, which she backs up with examples of married couples she has come to know.
During all this, Rasselas is trying to find the correct "choice of life" for himself. Johnson keeps returning to the question of whether solitude or society is better. As the hermit remarks: "In solitude, if I escape the example of bad men, I want likewise the counsel and conversation of the good."
January 30, 2021
I think this is my eighth year to teach this short work, and I still delight in Johnson's understated humor. The poor prince! To encounter almost every known philosophy and way of life and still not know what to do with himself. I do like this Oxford edition for its fine notes and cross references, especially because Johnson uses his own Rambler essays as a source!
May 24, 2015
Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
From BBC Radio 4 - Drama:
An intriguing, contemporary take on Samuel Johnson's classic tale of an African prince in search of happiness.
A star cast is led by Ashley Zhangazha as Rasselas, Jeff Rawle as Samuel Johnson and Lucian Msamati - the RSC's first black Iago - as the poet Imlac. Singer and actor Cynthia Erivo makes her BBC radio drama debut as Princess Nekayah.
Recorded on location at Dr Johnson's House, 17 Gough Square, in the City of London - the very place where over 260 years ago, Johnson compiled his famous dictionary and then in January 1759, wrote his instant bestseller 'Rasselas' in a week, to pay for his mother's funeral.
Acclaimed 18th century philosophy fuels a contemporary desert road trip in this inventive and playful adaptation by Jonathan Holloway. Period and modern collide in a satirical fantasy as Rasselas and his companions follow their quest for happiness and purpose to Cairo, where they encounter Arab Spring revolutionaries.
Jonathan Holloway's drama also incorporates a compelling glimpse of Johnson himself - the lonely, 50-year-old celebrity and writer, in debt, in poor health, and missing his young Jamaican manservant, Francis Barber, who had run away to sea. Born a slave, Barber was freed at Johnson's insistence and treated kindly by him.
Johnson had struggled through many years of poverty before moving to Gough Square and becoming a highly respected writer. 'Rasselas', his singular, progressive rumination on human happiness, is his only novel and his most popular work.
Sound design: David Chilton
Produced and directed by Amber Barnfather.
From BBC Radio 4 - Drama:
An intriguing, contemporary take on Samuel Johnson's classic tale of an African prince in search of happiness.
A star cast is led by Ashley Zhangazha as Rasselas, Jeff Rawle as Samuel Johnson and Lucian Msamati - the RSC's first black Iago - as the poet Imlac. Singer and actor Cynthia Erivo makes her BBC radio drama debut as Princess Nekayah.
Recorded on location at Dr Johnson's House, 17 Gough Square, in the City of London - the very place where over 260 years ago, Johnson compiled his famous dictionary and then in January 1759, wrote his instant bestseller 'Rasselas' in a week, to pay for his mother's funeral.
Acclaimed 18th century philosophy fuels a contemporary desert road trip in this inventive and playful adaptation by Jonathan Holloway. Period and modern collide in a satirical fantasy as Rasselas and his companions follow their quest for happiness and purpose to Cairo, where they encounter Arab Spring revolutionaries.
Jonathan Holloway's drama also incorporates a compelling glimpse of Johnson himself - the lonely, 50-year-old celebrity and writer, in debt, in poor health, and missing his young Jamaican manservant, Francis Barber, who had run away to sea. Born a slave, Barber was freed at Johnson's insistence and treated kindly by him.
Johnson had struggled through many years of poverty before moving to Gough Square and becoming a highly respected writer. 'Rasselas', his singular, progressive rumination on human happiness, is his only novel and his most popular work.
Sound design: David Chilton
Produced and directed by Amber Barnfather.
March 26, 2022
I really had to concentrate to read this, lots of gems wrapped up in complicated (to me) language. Worth the effort.
May 20, 2017
I think of this short book as a novelization of Ecclesiastes. It's about a search for "the choice of life." What is the meaning of life? What should we be doing to get the most genuine satisfaction out of life? It's funny how this question persists, unchanging, from B.C. to 1759 to 2017.
Samuel Johnson was a philosopher and prolific writer, but this was his only novel (novella, more like it). Thus it's heavy on intellectual and philosophical conversation, though it also moves fairly quickly with action and a variety of characters. Prince Rasselas, his worldly-wise tutor Imlac, his sister Princess Nekayah, and her maid Pekuah are the main cast. My favorite was Nekayah, who is an intellectual and spirited young lady.
We can all identify with the search for the meaning of life. I liked how this was depicted in a journey that Rasselas and Nekayah took with their companions, venturing from the "perfect" happy valley where there are no problems except boredom and ease. Rasselas senses there is more to living than idle enjoyment, and he can only find it out by escaping from the valley where he lives with the rest of his father's sheltered children and their attendants.
The journey is thought-provoking for all who read it. The conclusion might be a bit disappointing, however, as no strong conclusions are made about "the choice of life." But I like what the introduction in this edition (Oxford World's Classics) has to say: the question is really too big to be completely resolved in this book or in life itself. What then should we do with our lives? I think Nekayah has the answer: "To me, the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity." I strongly agree.
Samuel Johnson was a philosopher and prolific writer, but this was his only novel (novella, more like it). Thus it's heavy on intellectual and philosophical conversation, though it also moves fairly quickly with action and a variety of characters. Prince Rasselas, his worldly-wise tutor Imlac, his sister Princess Nekayah, and her maid Pekuah are the main cast. My favorite was Nekayah, who is an intellectual and spirited young lady.
We can all identify with the search for the meaning of life. I liked how this was depicted in a journey that Rasselas and Nekayah took with their companions, venturing from the "perfect" happy valley where there are no problems except boredom and ease. Rasselas senses there is more to living than idle enjoyment, and he can only find it out by escaping from the valley where he lives with the rest of his father's sheltered children and their attendants.
The journey is thought-provoking for all who read it. The conclusion might be a bit disappointing, however, as no strong conclusions are made about "the choice of life." But I like what the introduction in this edition (Oxford World's Classics) has to say: the question is really too big to be completely resolved in this book or in life itself. What then should we do with our lives? I think Nekayah has the answer: "To me, the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity." I strongly agree.
September 14, 2009
I was on the road this weekend and picked up a copy of the WSJ weekend edition. It had an article about Samuel Johnson's Rasselas. My second semester in graduate school, I took a Johnson seminar from O. M. "Skip" Brack, who eventually directed my PhD thesis. He believed that the world would be a better place if everyone read Rasselas at least once a year. I haven't followed that regime, but I'm inclined to agree. Johnson is largely forgotten now by most readers (even though he is the most important figure in the second half of the 18th century), but this would make an interesting book club selection.
July 2, 2020
Sono tre stelle scarse, ero partito con entusiasmo ma ho dovuto riconoscere che il testo è ormai superato dagli anni trascorsi, certo è una buona base per riflessioni non banali e può rientrare nel cosiddetto "romanzo formativo" però credo che le proposte di Hermann Hesse siano più attuali e generalmente migliori.
Dalla seconda metà in poi la lettura mi ha irritato e toglievo lo sguardo dal testo. Dovrò leggere Candido di Voltaire per fare un confronto ma al momento ne ho abbastanza.
Dalla seconda metà in poi la lettura mi ha irritato e toglievo lo sguardo dal testo. Dovrò leggere Candido di Voltaire per fare un confronto ma al momento ne ho abbastanza.
May 1, 2021
“Yo estoy tan cansada del encierro como tú, y no menos deseosa de saber lo que se hace o lo que se sufre en el mundo. ”
Este clásico, en reiterada ocasiones se le ha tenido en comparación al Cándido, o El Optimista de Voltaire. El trabajo mas creativo del autor Samuel Johnson. El príncipe y la princesa de Abissinia escapan de su confinamiento en el Valle Feliz y llevan a cabo una búsqueda infructuosa en última instancia de una elección de vida que los lleve a la felicidad. Johnson usa las convenciones del cuento oriental para representar una inquietud universal de deseo. Los excesos del orientalismo —sus esplendores superfluos, sus tiranías despóticas, sus placeres desenfrenados— no pueden satisfacernos. Su historia nos desafía al mostrarnos que el problema de encontrar la felicidad es insoluble y al mismo tiempo dignificar nuestra búsqueda de la realización.
“Descubrirá que el mundo, que imagina liso y sereno como el lago del valle, es un mar espumeante de tempestades y que hierve de remolinos: a veces se verá abrumado por las olas de la violencia, y a veces arrojado contra las rocas de la traición.”
Johnson escribió la historia en enero de 1759, en el lapso de aproximadamente una semana. La primera referencia que ha sobrevivido se encuentra en una carta de Johnson el 20 de enero de ese año a William Strahan, un librero de Londres con quien Johnson había trabajado muchas veces. “Cuando estuve contigo anoche”, escribe Johnson, “te conté algo que estaba preparando para la prensa. El título será La elección de la vida o La historia del Príncipe de Abisinia ". Johnson escribió este libro rápidamente porque necesitaba dinero con especial urgencia. Su madre, Sarah Johnson, tenía 90 años y había recibido noticias de Litchfield, su ciudad natal y el lugar donde aún vivía su madre, que se estaba muriendo. Esperaba verla antes de que muriera; también sabía que ella tenía deudas que arreglar, y también que él tendría que pagar su funeral. No regresó a Litchfield a tiempo; aunque se las arregló para enviarle algo de dinero del anticipo que recibió por “La elección de la vida”, Sarah Johnson murió el 22 de enero de 1759, antes de que su hijo pudiera responderle. Si la historia tal como se publicó finalmente parece un poco pesimista, eso puede tener algo que ver con las circunstancias de su composición y el dolor de Johnson ante la perspectiva de perder a su madre. Las cartas de Johnson a su hijastra Lucy Porter, que vivía con Sarah Johnson, dejan en claro que estaba profundamente entristecido por la muerte de su madre y que también se sentía culpable por no poder ayudarla más.
Pero El príncipe de Abisinia no es realmente una novela, sino algo aparte, y los críticos han luchado durante mucho tiempo con exactamente qué género clasificarlo: ¿un romance? ¿una disculpa? ¿un cuento oriental? Pero este tema para otro momento. Es un excelente texto que explora la vanidad de los deseos humanos por la cual es la imagen vida de todo todos, por explorar mas alla del bienestar e instaurar sus propias experiencias, donde el Valle Feliz podia proveer de todo, pero como vichos deseamos ir mas allá de lo prohibido y cruzar la montaña para construir nuestras propias experirencias, para termina con el mismo punto de partida.
Este clásico, en reiterada ocasiones se le ha tenido en comparación al Cándido, o El Optimista de Voltaire. El trabajo mas creativo del autor Samuel Johnson. El príncipe y la princesa de Abissinia escapan de su confinamiento en el Valle Feliz y llevan a cabo una búsqueda infructuosa en última instancia de una elección de vida que los lleve a la felicidad. Johnson usa las convenciones del cuento oriental para representar una inquietud universal de deseo. Los excesos del orientalismo —sus esplendores superfluos, sus tiranías despóticas, sus placeres desenfrenados— no pueden satisfacernos. Su historia nos desafía al mostrarnos que el problema de encontrar la felicidad es insoluble y al mismo tiempo dignificar nuestra búsqueda de la realización.
“Descubrirá que el mundo, que imagina liso y sereno como el lago del valle, es un mar espumeante de tempestades y que hierve de remolinos: a veces se verá abrumado por las olas de la violencia, y a veces arrojado contra las rocas de la traición.”
Johnson escribió la historia en enero de 1759, en el lapso de aproximadamente una semana. La primera referencia que ha sobrevivido se encuentra en una carta de Johnson el 20 de enero de ese año a William Strahan, un librero de Londres con quien Johnson había trabajado muchas veces. “Cuando estuve contigo anoche”, escribe Johnson, “te conté algo que estaba preparando para la prensa. El título será La elección de la vida o La historia del Príncipe de Abisinia ". Johnson escribió este libro rápidamente porque necesitaba dinero con especial urgencia. Su madre, Sarah Johnson, tenía 90 años y había recibido noticias de Litchfield, su ciudad natal y el lugar donde aún vivía su madre, que se estaba muriendo. Esperaba verla antes de que muriera; también sabía que ella tenía deudas que arreglar, y también que él tendría que pagar su funeral. No regresó a Litchfield a tiempo; aunque se las arregló para enviarle algo de dinero del anticipo que recibió por “La elección de la vida”, Sarah Johnson murió el 22 de enero de 1759, antes de que su hijo pudiera responderle. Si la historia tal como se publicó finalmente parece un poco pesimista, eso puede tener algo que ver con las circunstancias de su composición y el dolor de Johnson ante la perspectiva de perder a su madre. Las cartas de Johnson a su hijastra Lucy Porter, que vivía con Sarah Johnson, dejan en claro que estaba profundamente entristecido por la muerte de su madre y que también se sentía culpable por no poder ayudarla más.
Pero El príncipe de Abisinia no es realmente una novela, sino algo aparte, y los críticos han luchado durante mucho tiempo con exactamente qué género clasificarlo: ¿un romance? ¿una disculpa? ¿un cuento oriental? Pero este tema para otro momento. Es un excelente texto que explora la vanidad de los deseos humanos por la cual es la imagen vida de todo todos, por explorar mas alla del bienestar e instaurar sus propias experiencias, donde el Valle Feliz podia proveer de todo, pero como vichos deseamos ir mas allá de lo prohibido y cruzar la montaña para construir nuestras propias experirencias, para termina con el mismo punto de partida.
April 12, 2018
WHEN I FIRST HEARD ABOUT THIS BOOK, I THOUGHT:
In Jane Eyre, little Helen Burns reads this "didactic romance." (Quotes from my Barnes & Noble classics edition describing this book to me in the end notes.)
(1) If little Helen Burns can read it, why shouldn't I? (2) What the HECK is meant by didactic romance? Will the Prince learn something from some horrible affair of the heart? (3) It's one of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, so, it's 'on like Donkey Kong'.
THEN I READ A FEW REVIEWS, AND I THOUGHT:
Wait! It's been compared to Voltaire's Candide? I just read that, and it was not my cup of tea. It wasn't even my cup of anything liquid. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Oh, dear...
AND NOW THAT I'VE READ IT:
18th century literature seems to mostly be philosophy wrapped up in a fictional story that illustrates an author's point of view. This one was more interesting to me than others that I've read, and there were a number of great quotes, but I can't say that I loved the book.
My favorite quote:
"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful."
In Jane Eyre, little Helen Burns reads this "didactic romance." (Quotes from my Barnes & Noble classics edition describing this book to me in the end notes.)
(1) If little Helen Burns can read it, why shouldn't I? (2) What the HECK is meant by didactic romance? Will the Prince learn something from some horrible affair of the heart? (3) It's one of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, so, it's 'on like Donkey Kong'.
THEN I READ A FEW REVIEWS, AND I THOUGHT:
Wait! It's been compared to Voltaire's Candide? I just read that, and it was not my cup of tea. It wasn't even my cup of anything liquid. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Oh, dear...
AND NOW THAT I'VE READ IT:
18th century literature seems to mostly be philosophy wrapped up in a fictional story that illustrates an author's point of view. This one was more interesting to me than others that I've read, and there were a number of great quotes, but I can't say that I loved the book.
My favorite quote:
"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful."
December 24, 2011
I'd seen several reviews and/or comments placing Rasselas in the same vein as Candide, and while I agree that they're both tales about young men going out into the world to discover themselves I can't take the comparison any further. Overall I found Rasselas a slow and rather disappointing read.
The young prince of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) becomes bored with the coddled life inside the royal compound and resolves to go out and discover the world. It sounds like it's going to be an adventure, but it really turns out to be a lot more about the prince talking and thinking about things rather than DOING much of anything. About a third of the way through he does manage to leave the compound, and there's a bit of a mishap that arises in the latter chapters, but not anything very interesting in the long run.
It does contain quite a few rather well-known and poignant quotations, my favorite of which is:
"Be not too hasty...to trust or to admire, the teachers of morality: they discourse like angels, but they live like men."
A good reminder for us all, but not quite enough plot for me to rate the book as a whole much higher.
Book 38 of The List
The young prince of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) becomes bored with the coddled life inside the royal compound and resolves to go out and discover the world. It sounds like it's going to be an adventure, but it really turns out to be a lot more about the prince talking and thinking about things rather than DOING much of anything. About a third of the way through he does manage to leave the compound, and there's a bit of a mishap that arises in the latter chapters, but not anything very interesting in the long run.
It does contain quite a few rather well-known and poignant quotations, my favorite of which is:
"Be not too hasty...to trust or to admire, the teachers of morality: they discourse like angels, but they live like men."
A good reminder for us all, but not quite enough plot for me to rate the book as a whole much higher.
Book 38 of The List
March 28, 2022
I'd been wanting to read more Johnson since I read Boswell's Life, and as I'd heard two references to Rasselas in the past week or so, I finally did. Serendipitously, it was also the week I read Ecclesiastes, and surely the book was an intentional riff on Solomon's experiences. The title character and his sister and their companions try All The Things and find that nothing satisfies. Their conclusion is likewise Solomonic: “To me,” said the Princess, “the choice of life is become less important; I hope hereafter to think only on the choice of eternity.”
Rasselas is a sort of proto-novel. Not quite there yet, but getting close. It has more the feel of a fairy tale (though R is a fourth son rather than a third...really, Sam?) without the fairies.
The sad tale surrounding the tale is that the cash-strapped Johnson dashed it off in a week, and though he got a hundred pounds for it, the funds came too late for him to relieve his dying mother.
The reader was excellent.
Rasselas is a sort of proto-novel. Not quite there yet, but getting close. It has more the feel of a fairy tale (though R is a fourth son rather than a third...really, Sam?) without the fairies.
The sad tale surrounding the tale is that the cash-strapped Johnson dashed it off in a week, and though he got a hundred pounds for it, the funds came too late for him to relieve his dying mother.
The reader was excellent.
October 7, 2023
It staggers me when I reflect on just how insightful Samuel Johnson was. I return to a collection of essays I have of his frequently and always with profit, and now I know I will return to this too.
Update: Reread in October ‘23. Wisdom on every page.
Update: Reread in October ‘23. Wisdom on every page.
November 4, 2020
A quick paced diverting story, with a rather abrupt ending.
December 17, 2021
Dünyada mutluluğun var olup olmadığına dair bir arayış.. Sonunda mutluluğun olanaksızlığına varıyor yazar ama bu yolda geçilen fikirler güzel. Konuşmalar ve tecrübelerin aktarılması üzerine kurulu bir öykü. Hafif, nefes aldıran bir okuma.
Belki mutluluk, aramaktır mutluluğu...
3,5⭐️
Belki mutluluk, aramaktır mutluluğu...
3,5⭐️
February 28, 2021
I wanted to read this after reading Cranford, which included a disagreement, quite intense, over who was superior, Dickens or Samuel Johnson. I then decided that it was time for me to read this work by Samuel Johnson.
It was definitely worth the time. Johnson was clearly an astute thinker, and the novel was also more humorous than I had expected. I see why the ladies of Cranford would have preferred Rasselas to Dickens' works. It fits their manners better, and has the kind of life lessons that the residents of Cranford would have appreciated.
One of the quotes I particularly appreciated, (which hit a little too close to home), was when Rasselas spoke about the folly of wasting time:
" "I have lost that which can never be restored; I have seen the sun rise and set for twenty months, an idle gazer on the light of heaven; in this time the birds have left the nest of their mother, and committed themselves to the woods and to the skies; the kid has forsaken the teat, and learned by degrees to climb the rocks in quest of independent sustenance. I only have made no advances, but am still helpless and ignorant. The moon, by more than twenty changes, admonished me of the flux of life; the stream that rolled before my feet upbraided my inactivity. I sat feasting on intellectual luxury, regardless alike of the examples of the earth and the instructions of the planets. Twenty months are passed; who shall restore them?"
Indeed, who shall restore any waste time, whether a month or an hour?
It was definitely worth the time. Johnson was clearly an astute thinker, and the novel was also more humorous than I had expected. I see why the ladies of Cranford would have preferred Rasselas to Dickens' works. It fits their manners better, and has the kind of life lessons that the residents of Cranford would have appreciated.
One of the quotes I particularly appreciated, (which hit a little too close to home), was when Rasselas spoke about the folly of wasting time:
" "I have lost that which can never be restored; I have seen the sun rise and set for twenty months, an idle gazer on the light of heaven; in this time the birds have left the nest of their mother, and committed themselves to the woods and to the skies; the kid has forsaken the teat, and learned by degrees to climb the rocks in quest of independent sustenance. I only have made no advances, but am still helpless and ignorant. The moon, by more than twenty changes, admonished me of the flux of life; the stream that rolled before my feet upbraided my inactivity. I sat feasting on intellectual luxury, regardless alike of the examples of the earth and the instructions of the planets. Twenty months are passed; who shall restore them?"
Indeed, who shall restore any waste time, whether a month or an hour?
November 13, 2014
This was a nice quick little read. It is a story about a younger son of the King of Abyssinia (Modern Ethiopia: the only African nation NOT to be colonized, by the way), who is raised in a utopian valley where his every need, pleasure and whim is met uncompromisingly.
So of course he is unhappy.
He finds a way out of the valley with one of his sisters, her waiting maid, and a sage friend, Imlac who has seen the world before entering the valley.
The spend the rest of the book trying to figure out humanity and life and happiness. And it is interesting the conclusions that they draw and the way they come about those conclusions.
Quite an enjoyable book although I did find the ending a bit abrupt. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.
After a very slight bit of research, it seems that poor Samuel Johnson wrote this in a week to help pay for his mother's funeral...which might explain the abrupt ending. The choice of exotic locations was actually quite popular at the time, which might explain his choice of Abyssinia.
So of course he is unhappy.
He finds a way out of the valley with one of his sisters, her waiting maid, and a sage friend, Imlac who has seen the world before entering the valley.
The spend the rest of the book trying to figure out humanity and life and happiness. And it is interesting the conclusions that they draw and the way they come about those conclusions.
Quite an enjoyable book although I did find the ending a bit abrupt. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.
After a very slight bit of research, it seems that poor Samuel Johnson wrote this in a week to help pay for his mother's funeral...which might explain the abrupt ending. The choice of exotic locations was actually quite popular at the time, which might explain his choice of Abyssinia.
December 6, 2014
To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why I love this book. I just do.
December 12, 2022
Rasselas është tashmë i ngopur me jetën hedoniste në "happy valley". Muzika e dëfrimi nuk i dhuronte princit të Abissinia-s kurrëfarë lumturie, dhe është pikërisht kjo e fundit çka i riu Rasselas kërkon. Lumturinë e kërkon jashtë portave të luginës së lumtur. Kërkimit të tij i bashkohet edhe princesha Nekahya me disa shoqëruese të saja.
Për të gjetur lumturinë, të sipërpërmendurit së bashku me një poet të quajtur Imlac, trokasin në portat e çdokujt. Herë te ndonjë pasha, e herë te ndonjë i varfër. Herë te ndonjë bari i palexuar, e herë te ndonjë i gjithëditur. Mirëpo, lumturinë, fatkeqësisht nuk e gjendën askund. Kjo pasi pashait mund t'ia priste kokën armiku, barinjëve u rrofshin peizazhet bukolike që u shohin sytë se dijes u kanë bërë naftën, i gjithëdituri ka trurin plot e zemrën e mirë fort, por vetmia e madhe e ka bërë ta shehi veten si zot, e kësisoj i gjori vret mendjen sesi këtë dhunti mund t'ia trashëgoj dikujt tjetër para se të vdes.
Pasuria, mungesa e dijes, dhe refuzimi i shoqërisë e si pasojë vetmia e individit, janë tematika të përsëritura disa hera në libër. Kjo është një "moral story", andaj Samuel Johnson është tërë kohës duke i thënë lexuesit të tij se ç'duhet të bëj. Çka e shqetëson më së tepërmi Johnson-in është refuzimi i shoqërisë, pasi kjo e fundit nuk sjell asnjë dobi. Njeriu do apo s'do është kafshë sociale. Kësisoj, duhet ta lërë egoizmin e tij mënjanë, të jetoj midis llojit të tij dhe jo ta refuzoj atë me problemin e parë që ai haset. Jetesa me llojin është e vetmja mënyrë për të përmirësuar shoqërinë. Jeta është e tillë, plot probleme, plot trazira. Për t'i kapërcyer duhet të jemi të bashkuar. Lumturia është e paarritshme. Edhe kur e dimë se çka na bën të lumtur, ajo mbetet një iluzion.
Personalisht, libri më pëlqeu si për nga forma, edhe nga përmbajtja. Së pari, Johnson-i prek një tematikë të dashur për mua, lumturinë. Të tërë jemi në kërkim të saj. Vazhdimisht. Ai sjell në pah disa të vërteta që edhe dhembin. Lidhjet familjare mund të jenë sipërfaqsore, aparenca gjithmonë gënjen, paraja mund të jetë edhe shkak hidhërimi, janë disa shembuj. Thënë kjo, ajo çka më pëlqen më shumë është fundi i librit. Askush nga personazhet nuk është i lumtur. Problemet e mëdha, por edhe ato të voglat ta prishin gjakun. Edhe një mace e ngordhur në rrugë ta prish lumturinë, jo më probleme të tjera me të cilat hasemi përditë. Prap, lumturinë e kërkojmë, bëjmë çdo gjë për ta arrirë atë, e humbasim dhe ia nisim përsëri nga fillimi. Të nejtën gjë bëjnë edhe personazhet e këtij libri. Ne jemi gjithmonë në kërkim të lumturisë dhe s'do reshtim kurrë së kërkuari atë, pasi lumturia zgjat veç një çast.
Për të gjetur lumturinë, të sipërpërmendurit së bashku me një poet të quajtur Imlac, trokasin në portat e çdokujt. Herë te ndonjë pasha, e herë te ndonjë i varfër. Herë te ndonjë bari i palexuar, e herë te ndonjë i gjithëditur. Mirëpo, lumturinë, fatkeqësisht nuk e gjendën askund. Kjo pasi pashait mund t'ia priste kokën armiku, barinjëve u rrofshin peizazhet bukolike që u shohin sytë se dijes u kanë bërë naftën, i gjithëdituri ka trurin plot e zemrën e mirë fort, por vetmia e madhe e ka bërë ta shehi veten si zot, e kësisoj i gjori vret mendjen sesi këtë dhunti mund t'ia trashëgoj dikujt tjetër para se të vdes.
Pasuria, mungesa e dijes, dhe refuzimi i shoqërisë e si pasojë vetmia e individit, janë tematika të përsëritura disa hera në libër. Kjo është një "moral story", andaj Samuel Johnson është tërë kohës duke i thënë lexuesit të tij se ç'duhet të bëj. Çka e shqetëson më së tepërmi Johnson-in është refuzimi i shoqërisë, pasi kjo e fundit nuk sjell asnjë dobi. Njeriu do apo s'do është kafshë sociale. Kësisoj, duhet ta lërë egoizmin e tij mënjanë, të jetoj midis llojit të tij dhe jo ta refuzoj atë me problemin e parë që ai haset. Jetesa me llojin është e vetmja mënyrë për të përmirësuar shoqërinë. Jeta është e tillë, plot probleme, plot trazira. Për t'i kapërcyer duhet të jemi të bashkuar. Lumturia është e paarritshme. Edhe kur e dimë se çka na bën të lumtur, ajo mbetet një iluzion.
Personalisht, libri më pëlqeu si për nga forma, edhe nga përmbajtja. Së pari, Johnson-i prek një tematikë të dashur për mua, lumturinë. Të tërë jemi në kërkim të saj. Vazhdimisht. Ai sjell në pah disa të vërteta që edhe dhembin. Lidhjet familjare mund të jenë sipërfaqsore, aparenca gjithmonë gënjen, paraja mund të jetë edhe shkak hidhërimi, janë disa shembuj. Thënë kjo, ajo çka më pëlqen më shumë është fundi i librit. Askush nga personazhet nuk është i lumtur. Problemet e mëdha, por edhe ato të voglat ta prishin gjakun. Edhe një mace e ngordhur në rrugë ta prish lumturinë, jo më probleme të tjera me të cilat hasemi përditë. Prap, lumturinë e kërkojmë, bëjmë çdo gjë për ta arrirë atë, e humbasim dhe ia nisim përsëri nga fillimi. Të nejtën gjë bëjnë edhe personazhet e këtij libri. Ne jemi gjithmonë në kërkim të lumturisë dhe s'do reshtim kurrë së kërkuari atë, pasi lumturia zgjat veç një çast.
October 9, 2021
I was intrigued by this short novel but wasn't prepared to enjoy it as much as I did. Not sure why really. It's written well, have some nice points but can't put my finger on what it was that made me enjoy it so much
October 24, 2018
A fun classic, though it was confusing at times.
February 26, 2024
Very readable and interesting exploration of happiness in novel form. Much easier to read than I would have thought for an 18th century novel.
May 9, 2024
Very enlightening on life! Extra star for Palestine;)
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