Penguin Classics The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, (Paperback)

from V.V.Harding

"That greatest of philosophical tales," as Warren Fleischauer calls The History of Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia in his introduction to the edition I read -- one of 112 listed at this site! -- will disappoint anyone prepared for something else, a novel, a story, an adventure. The adventure here is...

from Lukerik

I find it hard to believe that a book this good could be written in a week, but the evidence is before me and I have read it. A strange mix of fairy tale, light philosophy and speculum regis. Smooth, unobtrusive writing. He has a way of turning a thought into a phrase that really speaks to you. D...

from P_S_Patrick

Though presented as "The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia", this is not a factual history but a tale of adventure and self discovery, centered around the eponymous prince, his sister, her maid, and their wise companion Imlac. It begins with his growing up in the "Happy Valley", which is i...

from mrtall

Rasselas is a brief but comprehensive introduction to some of the recurring questions of political and practical philosophy. What is the best way to live out a human life? Where is real fulfillment to be found? Of what does happiness consist? Samuel Johnson embodies these questions in the tale of...

from AlexTheHunn

Rasselas is Samuel Johnson's vision of the world as a place where things do not always work out well. Johnson shows life at best as something to be endured. The situations encountered by Johnson's hero seems almost the opposite of those encountered by Voltaire's Candide. Time after time, things s...