Rasselas
Prince whose curiosity is a moral appetite, not a tourist’s.
Enlightenment · Novella · 1759
The History of Rasselas
Samuel Johnson
An Abyssinian prince leaves the Happy Valley to test how people live. Every way of life disappoints, and the book refuses a cheap exit.
Philosophical tale
Characters
Imlac
Poet-guide who knows that even art cannot cancel restlessness.
Themes
The choice of life
Happiness is surveyed and found to be a moving target.
Limitation
Human wishes outrun every condition we can occupy.
Motifs
A prison of sufficiency that proves sufficiency is not enough.
Occupations and estates are visited like exhibits.