Samuel Johnson's philosophical novel The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (1759) deals with "the choice of life." This phrase, which is emphasized several times throughout the novel, is also its shortest conceivable summary. The issue of that choice, however, is not clear. In spite of Johnson's well-turned aphorisms, Rasselas' choice of life remains inconclusive. Worse still, a study of the response to the work throughout its life reveals that the readers of the book have interpreted this inconclusiveness, and the doctrine of the book as a whole, in widely different ways—the implied authorial attitude of the work has proved difficult to discern. These disagreements reveal some tensions in the thematic structure of the novel and in Johnson's system of morals. The status of Johnson's novel as a literary artifact seems to work against its purported moral content. A comprehensive interpretation of The History of Rasselas cannot see it as the seamless product of its author's intention.
Samuel Johnson's Rasselas:
The Duplicity of Choice and the Sense of an Ending
http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6TV9M
- Author(s):
- José Angel García Landa (see profile)
- Date:
- 1990
- Group(s):
- Narrative theory and Narratology
- Subject(s):
- Samuel Johnson, 18th-century English literature, English literature, Narratology
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- English fiction, 18th-century fiction, Closure
- Abstract:
- Notes:
- Written in 1989.
_____. "Samuel Johnson's Rasselas: The Duplicity of Choice and the Sense of an Ending."
Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses
19/20 (1989-1990): 75-99.*
2004 - DISCONTINUED
2014
_____. "Samuel Johnson's Rasselas: The Duplicity of Choice and the Sense of an Ending."
iPaper at Academia.edu 23 April
2010.*
2014
_____. "Samuel Johnson's Rasselas: The Duplicity of Choice and the Sense of an Ending."
Online PDF at Social Science Research
Network 26 April 2010.*
2010
English
& Commonwealth Literature eJournal 26 April 2010.*
2013
Cognition
and the Arts eJournal 26 April 2010.*
2013
_____. "Samuel Johnson's Rasselas: The Duplicity of Choice and the Sense of an Ending."
ResearchGate 5 Dec. 2013.*
2013
_____. "Samuel Johnson's Rasselas: The Duplicity of Choice and the Sense of an Ending."
Humanities Commons 1 April 2018.*
2018
—oOo—
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