Publications

La historia de Rasselas, príncipe de Abisinia.

Pascual Garrido, María Luísa (Dr.)

Berenice

2007

Description

Rasselas (1759), the only work of fiction published by Samuel Johnson, is a philosophical novel which embodies the metaphysical legacy of the European Enlightenment in English. It narrates the adventures of Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia, and his sister Nekayah who abandon their paradisiacal valley seeking the knowledge and the experience of life they lack. They set off to explore other places and meet other people so as to discover the happiest way of life. The novel is in short a subtle analysis on the human condition. This Spanish edition includes an introductory essay with details on Johnson's extraordinary contribution to English letters during the Enlightenment. This section also offers an analysis of the shifting readings of Johnson's novella as new translations were gradually made available into Spanish, starting as early as 1798, so the reader may get greater insight into one of the classics of English literature.