{"product_id":"the-history-of-rasselas-prince-of-abissinia","title":"The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\nIn Samuel Johnson’s 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 Orientalism—its superfluous splendours, its despotic tyrannies, its riotous pleasures—cannot satisfy us. His tale challenges us by showing the problem of finding happiness to be insoluble while still dignifying our quest for fulfillment.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nThe appendices to this Broadview edition include reviews and biographies, selections from the sequel \u003cem\u003eDinarbas\u003c\/em\u003e (1790), and the complete text of Elizabeth Pope Whately’s \u003cem\u003eThe Second Part of the History of Rasselas\u003c\/em\u003e (1835). Selections from Johnson’s translation of the travel narrative \u003cem\u003eA Voyage to Abyssinia\u003c\/em\u003e, as well as his Oriental tales in the \u003cem\u003eRambler\u003c\/em\u003e, are also included, along with another popular tale, Joseph Addison’s “The Vision of Mirzah,” and selections from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s \u003cem\u003eTurkish Embassy Letters\u003c\/em\u003e.\n\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Broadview Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":66233383518557,"sku":null,"price":22.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1041\/3893\/2573\/files\/9781551116013.jpg?v=1792201617","url":"https:\/\/shop.gazellebookservices.co.uk\/products\/the-history-of-rasselas-prince-of-abissinia","provider":"Gazelle Book Services","version":"1.0","type":"link"}