The History of Rasselas: Prince of Abyssinia

A humorous moral fable and satire, Rasselas is the only extended work of fiction by Samuel Johnson. It tells the story of Rasselas, a prince of Abyssinia, who escapes the pleasant but boring Happy Valley of his birth, along with his mentor, Imlac, his sister, Nekayah, and her servant, Pekuah, to travel through Egypt in search of earthly happiness, with inevitable failure. The search for the meaning of existence preoccupied the author throughout his own life, and it is through Rasselas' discoveries that we see reflected Johnson's view of human life as something to be endured rather than enjoyed. When it was first published in 1759 this 'Eastern tales was enthusiastically received, earning Johnson his reputation as a moralist and man of his letters, and it is today regarded as a classic of its time.