Product Overview
In Samuel Johnsons classic philosophical tale, the prince and princess of Abissinia escape their confinement in the Happy Valley and conduct an ultimately unsuccessful search for a choice of life that leads to happiness. Johnson uses the conventions of the Oriental tale to depict a universal restlessness of desire. The excesses of Orientalismits superfluous splendours, its despotic tyrannies, its riotous pleasurescannot satisfy us. His tale challenges us by showing the problem of finding happiness to be insoluble while still dignifying our quest for fulfillment.
The appendices to this Broadview edition include reviews and biographies, selections from the sequel Dinarbas (1790), and the complete text of Elizabeth Pope Whatelys The Second Part of the History of Rasselas (1835). Selections from Johnsons translation of the travel narrative A Voyage to Abyssinia, as well as his Oriental tales in the Rambler, are also included, along with another popular tale, Joseph Addisons The Vision of Mirzah, and selections from Lady Mary Wortley Montagus Turkish Embassy Letters.
