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Cover of The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

Samuel Johnson

  • 203 pages · about 3 hours
  • First published 1759
  • 249 editions
  • Free to read
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1 About this book

This short novel is a satire on the philosophical stories popular at the time, such as Voltaire’s Candide. A young man is accompanied on his travels by an older wiser teacher, who explains various situations they encounter in terms of happiness or otherwise.

Good for readers who want: satire and a book they can read free online.

  • Happiness
  • Essays
  • Biography
  • Satire
  • Princes
  • Manners and customs in fiction
  • Kings and rulers
  • Authors

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3 About Samuel Johnson

1709–1784

Samuel Johnson (18 September [O.S. 7 September] 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer and polymath who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer (creator of dictionaries). The work for which he is best known is his 42,733-entry Dictionary of the English Language (1755).

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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