Johnson’s Rasselas: Abyssinia, Morality, and Orientalism
Rasselas (1759): A Discussion
Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas draws upon his prior knowledge of Abyssinia, fueled by popular interest and the power of publishers. While Johnson had written oriental tales previously, this book transcends a simple connection with England, existing outside of time and place within the setting of Abyssinia. The book incorporates information about Abyssinia not solely derived from Portuguese missionary translations, potentially drawing from accounts of Basque missionaries. Abyssinia serves as an ideal location, blending the exotic with the commonality of shared religion.
- The best piece of moral writing by Johnson is found in his Rasselas.
- Rapidly written in January 1759 and hastily published in April to defray the funeral expenses of his mother.
- It bears a strong resemblance to the oriental tale, which was extremely popular in the eighteenth century.
- The most famous example was the translation of the Arabian Nights into French (and subsequently from French into English in 1704-17).
- Johnson himself had written some oriental tales for his journal The Rambler.
- His “Orientalism,” like that of most oriental tales, is purely a device for effacing any bias of locality and reducing life to a sort of biblical universality.
- Rasselas is also based on historical and geographical descriptions of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia).
- Johnson’s first book had been a translation of the French version by Joachim Le Grand of the account of the travels in Abyssinia of a Portuguese missionary.
- The topographical details and some of the description of the paradise-prison, the Happy Valley, could well have come from this and other accounts of travelers’ explorations.
- Abyssinia was probably chosen as a location because, as well as being exotic and culturally different, it was also a Christian country.
- But Rasselas is clearly more than just a fictionalized account of travellers’ tales: Johnson does not wish to show how exotic and strange Abyssinia is, but rather how much it is like anywhere else. He believes that human nature is the same everywhere, and so, the setting is largely irrelevant.
There was a strong tradition in the 18th century of tales told by a detached observer of his encounter with a strange culture. This could work in either of two ways:
- The observer travels to strange lands and comments on the manners and customs there, comparing them with his own (e.g. Gulliver’s Travels).
- A traveller from a strange land arrives in Britain and is puzzled by many of the manners he finds there.
Both of these forms may be used effectively for social commentary and satire on contemporary society. However, this is not Johnson’s purpose; he does not wish to comment on his own society, so much as on all human societies everywhere.
The tale bears strong resemblance with the sapiential literature of the Bible. Like the Book of Proverbs, Rasselas contains many statements of aphoristic wisdom; see ch.29, p. 68; ch.30, p. 70. Many of these instances are stated by Imlac, who is prevented from sounding too hortatory by his companions; ch. 11, p. 30; Imlac himself is aware that the teachers of wisdom are no better able to cope with the difficulties of life than are ordinary people (ch. 18, pp. 46-47).
The tale of Rasselas works like a kind of reversed utopia: Rasselas and his companions travel away from the Happy Valley in search of the miseries of the world (ch.3, p. 13). The end of many utopian visions is here only the beginning. The satisfaction of every material want in this earthly paradise does not bring fulfilment, precisely because humans need something to strive for. This perception puzzles Rasselas at the beginning, until he realizes that this is a feeling shared by others in the Happy Valley (ch. 2, pp. 10-11). Rasselas is deeply bored: he is tired of luxury and music, but he doesn’t yet know what he is looking for. Chapter 3 is ironically entitled, “The wants of him that wants nothing” and pointing the paradox: The supply of every want (i.e. need) does not satisfy us because to want (i.e. desire) is part of human nature. Unhappiness exists in this earthly paradise because it is impossible to banish human emotions such as envy.