While the story is thematically similar to Candide by Voltaire, also published early in 1759 – both concern young men travelling in the company of honoured teachers, encountering and examining human suffering in an attempt to determine the root of happiness – their root concerns are distinctly different. Voltaire was very directly satirising the widely read philosophical work by Gottfried Leibniz, particularly the Theodicee, in which Leibniz asserts that the world, no matter how we may perceive it, is necessarily the "best of all possible worlds". In contrast the question Rasselas confronts most directly is whether or not humanity is essentially capable of attaining happiness. Writing as a devout Christian, Johnson makes through his characters no blanket attacks on the viability of a religious response to this question, as Voltaire does, and while the story is in places light and humorous, it is not a piece of satire, as is Candide.
Harvard on the Beach : The Complete 71 Volumes of Harvard Classics (The Five Foot Shelf & The Shelf of Fiction): The Infamous Anthology of the Greatest Works of World Literature
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Carlyle, Plato, Charles Darwin, Dante Alighieri, Euripides, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Lamb, Samuel Johnson, John Stuart Mill, David Hume, Joseph Addison, Leigh Hunt, Epictetus, Thomas De Quincey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jonathan Swift, Christopher Marlowe, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, William Hazlitt, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Daniel Defoe, Aesop, Richard Henry Dana, John Dryden, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, John Ruskin, Robert Burns, David Garrick, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Izaak Walton, John Bunyan, Homer, Edmund Burke, Plutarch, Molière, Aeschylus, Sophocles, William Makepeace Thackeray, Benjamin Franklin, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Robert Browning, Oliver Goldsmith, John Milton, Aristophanes, Virgil, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, William Penn, Philip Sidney, Francis Bacon, Adam Smith, Alessandro Manzoni, Abraham Cowley, Ben Jonson, John Woolman, Sydney Smith, Marcus Aurelius, Hans Christian Andersen, George Gordon Byron, Thomas à Kempis, Richard Steele, Thomas Browne, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Miguel de Cervantes, Friedrich von Schiller, Pliny the Younger, Saint Augustine
bookThe Complete Harvard Classics - All 51 Volumes in One Edition : The Anthology of the Greatest Works of World Literature - Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Carlyle, Plato, René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin, Martin Luther, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, Euripides, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Lamb, Henry David Thoreau, Samuel Johnson, John Stuart Mill, David Hume, Joseph Addison, John Locke, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, Leigh Hunt, Epictetus, Thomas De Quincey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jonathan Swift, Christopher Marlowe, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, William Hazlitt, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Daniel Defoe, Aesop, Richard Henry Dana, John Dryden, Philip Massinger, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, John Ruskin, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ernest Renan, Robert Burns, David Garrick, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Webster, Izaak Walton, John Bunyan, James Russell Lowell, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Homer, Edmund Burke, Plutarch, Molière, Aeschylus, Michael Faraday, Sophocles, William Makepeace Thackeray, Benjamin Franklin, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Voltaire, Robert Browning, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Dekker, John Milton, Aristophanes, Blaise Pascal, Virgil, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Simon Newcomb, William Penn, Walter Bigges, Philip Sidney, Herodotus, Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon, Giuseppe Mazzini, Francis Pretty, George Berkeley, Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Alessandro Manzoni, Abraham Cowley, Michel de Montaigne, Ben Jonson, John Woolman, Benvenuto Cellini, Sydney Smith, Jean Froissart, William Henry Harrison, William Harvey, Marcus Aurelius, Hans Christian Andersen, Thomas Malory, George Gordon Byron, Thomas à Kempis, Richard Steele, Thomas Browne, Archibald Geikie, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Tacitus, William Roper, Hippocrates, Miguel de Cervantes, Thomas More, Friedrich von Schiller, Philip Nichols, Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Pliny the Younger, Edgar Alan Poe, Saint Augustine, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, Francis Drake, Edward Haies, Niccolo Machiavelli, Ambroise Paré, William A. Neilson
bookThe Harvard Classics Shelf : All 51 Volumes of Essential Classics + 20 Volumes of the Greatest Works of Fiction
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Thomas Carlyle, Theodor Storm, Plato, Theodor Fontane, René Descartes, Gottfried Keller, Mark Twain, Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin, Martin Luther, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, Euripides, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Lamb, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, Samuel Johnson, John Stuart Mill, Victor Hugo, David Hume, Joseph Addison, Jane Austen, John Locke, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, Leigh Hunt, Epictetus, Alphonse Daudet, Thomas De Quincey, Guy de Maupassant, George Eliot, Walter Scott, Laurence Sterne, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jonathan Swift, Christopher Marlowe, Wilhelm Grimm, William Hazlitt, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Daniel Defoe, Aesop, Richard Henry Dana, Henry Fielding, John Dryden, Philip Massinger, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Bret Harte, George Sand, John Ruskin, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ernest Renan, Robert Burns, David Garrick, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Webster, Washington Irving, Izaak Walton, John Bunyan, Juan Valera, Alfred de Musset, James Russell Lowell, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Homer, Edmund Burke, Plutarch, Molière, Aeschylus, Michael Faraday, Sophocles, William Makepeace Thackeray, Benjamin Franklin, Edward Everett Hale, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Voltaire, Robert Browning, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Dekker, John Milton, Aristophanes, Blaise Pascal, Virgil, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Simon Newcomb, William Penn, Walter Bigges, Philip Sidney, Herodotus, Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon, Giuseppe Mazzini, Francis Pretty, George Berkeley, Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Alessandro Manzoni, Abraham Cowley, Michel de Montaigne, Ben Jonson, John Woolman, Benvenuto Cellini, Sydney Smith, Jean Froissart, William Henry Harrison, William Harvey, Marcus Aurelius, Hans Christian Andersen, Thomas Malory, George Gordon Byron, Thomas à Kempis, Ivan Turgenev, Richard Steele, Thomas Browne, Archibald Geikie, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Tacitus, William Roper, Hippocrates, Miguel de Cervantes, Thomas More, Friedrich von Schiller, Philip Nichols, Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Pliny the Younger, Charles W. Eliot, Edgar Alan Poe, Saint Augustine, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, Francis Drake, Edward Haies, Niccolo Machiavelli, Ambroise Paré, William A. Neilson, Honoré Balzac, Alexander L. Kielland
bookA Grammar of the English Tongue
Samuel Johnson
audiobookbookThe History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
Samuel Johnson
audiobookA Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
James Boswell, Samuel Johnson
audiobookPrefacio a Shakespeare
Samuel Johnson
bookHarvard Classics: All 71 Volumes
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Thomas Carlyle, Theodor Storm, Plato, Theodor Fontane, René Descartes, Gottfried Keller, Mark Twain, Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin, Martin Luther, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, Euripides, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Lamb, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, Samuel Johnson, John Stuart Mill, Victor Hugo, David Hume, Joseph Addison, Jane Austen, John Locke, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, Leigh Hunt, Epictetus, Alphonse Daudet, Thomas De Quincey, Guy de Maupassant, George Eliot, Walter Scott, Laurence Sterne, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jonathan Swift, Christopher Marlowe, Wilhelm Grimm, William Hazlitt, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Daniel Defoe, Aesop, Richard Henry Dana, Henry Fielding, John Dryden, Philip Massinger, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Bret Harte, George Sand, John Ruskin, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ernest Renan, Robert Burns, David Garrick, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Webster, Washington Irving, Izaak Walton, John Bunyan, Juan Valera, Alfred de Musset, James Russell Lowell, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Homer, Edmund Burke, Plutarch, Molière, Aeschylus, Michael Faraday, Sophocles, William Makepeace Thackeray, Benjamin Franklin, Edward Everett Hale, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Voltaire, Robert Browning, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Dekker, John Milton, Aristophanes, Blaise Pascal, Virgil, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Simon Newcomb, William Penn, Walter Bigges, Philip Sidney, Herodotus, Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon, Giuseppe Mazzini, Francis Pretty, George Berkeley, Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Alessandro Manzoni, Abraham Cowley, Michel de Montaigne, Ben Jonson, John Woolman, Benvenuto Cellini, Sydney Smith, Jean Froissart, William Henry Harrison, William Harvey, Marcus Aurelius, Hans Christian Andersen, Thomas Malory, George Gordon Byron, Thomas à Kempis, Ivan Turgenev, Richard Steele, Thomas Browne, Archibald Geikie, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Tacitus, William Roper, Hippocrates, Miguel de Cervantes, Thomas More, Friedrich von Schiller, Philip Nichols, Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Pliny the Younger, Charles W. Eliot, Edgar Alan Poe, Saint Augustine, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, Francis Drake, Edward Haies, Niccolo Machiavelli, Ambroise Paré, William A. Neilson, Honoré Balzac, Alexander L. Kielland
bookHarvard Classics (All 51 Volumes)
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bookHarvard Classics - Complete Collection of the Greatest Works of World Literature
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Carlyle, Plato, Charles Darwin, Dante Alighieri, Euripides, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Lamb, Samuel Johnson, John Stuart Mill, David Hume, Joseph Addison, Leigh Hunt, Epictetus, Thomas De Quincey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jonathan Swift, Christopher Marlowe, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, William Hazlitt, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Daniel Defoe, Aesop, Richard Henry Dana, John Dryden, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, John Ruskin, Robert Burns, David Garrick, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Izaak Walton, John Bunyan, Homer, Edmund Burke, Plutarch, Molière, Aeschylus, Sophocles, William Makepeace Thackeray, Benjamin Franklin, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Robert Browning, Oliver Goldsmith, John Milton, Aristophanes, Virgil, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, William Penn, Philip Sidney, Francis Bacon, Adam Smith, Alessandro Manzoni, Abraham Cowley, Ben Jonson, John Woolman, Sydney Smith, Marcus Aurelius, Hans Christian Andersen, George Gordon Byron, Thomas à Kempis, Richard Steele, Thomas Browne, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Miguel de Cervantes, Friedrich von Schiller, Pliny the Younger, Saint Augustine
bookThe Complete Harvard Anthology of the Greatest Works of World Literature : All 71 Volumes - The Five Foot Shelf & The Shelf of Fiction
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Carlyle, Plato, Charles Darwin, Dante Alighieri, Euripides, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Lamb, Samuel Johnson, John Stuart Mill, David Hume, Joseph Addison, Leigh Hunt, Epictetus, Thomas De Quincey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jonathan Swift, Christopher Marlowe, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, William Hazlitt, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Daniel Defoe, Aesop, Richard Henry Dana, John Dryden, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, John Ruskin, Robert Burns, David Garrick, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Izaak Walton, John Bunyan, Homer, Edmund Burke, Plutarch, Molière, Aeschylus, Sophocles, William Makepeace Thackeray, Benjamin Franklin, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Robert Browning, Oliver Goldsmith, John Milton, Aristophanes, Virgil, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, William Penn, Philip Sidney, Francis Bacon, Adam Smith, Alessandro Manzoni, Abraham Cowley, Ben Jonson, John Woolman, Sydney Smith, Marcus Aurelius, Hans Christian Andersen, George Gordon Byron, Thomas à Kempis, Richard Steele, Thomas Browne, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Miguel de Cervantes, Friedrich von Schiller, Pliny the Younger, Saint Augustine
bookHarvard Classics Anthology - Complete 51 Volumes : The Greatest Works of World Literature - Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Carlyle, Plato, René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin, Martin Luther, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, Euripides, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Lamb, Henry David Thoreau, Samuel Johnson, John Stuart Mill, David Hume, Joseph Addison, John Locke, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, Leigh Hunt, Epictetus, Thomas De Quincey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jonathan Swift, Christopher Marlowe, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, William Hazlitt, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Daniel Defoe, Aesop, Richard Henry Dana, John Dryden, Philip Massinger, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, John Ruskin, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ernest Renan, Robert Burns, David Garrick, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Webster, Izaak Walton, John Bunyan, James Russell Lowell, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Homer, Edmund Burke, Plutarch, Molière, Aeschylus, Michael Faraday, Sophocles, William Makepeace Thackeray, Benjamin Franklin, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Voltaire, Robert Browning, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Dekker, John Milton, Aristophanes, Blaise Pascal, Virgil, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Simon Newcomb, William Penn, Walter Bigges, Philip Sidney, Herodotus, Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon, Giuseppe Mazzini, Francis Pretty, George Berkeley, Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Alessandro Manzoni, Abraham Cowley, Michel de Montaigne, Ben Jonson, John Woolman, Benvenuto Cellini, Sydney Smith, Jean Froissart, William Henry Harrison, William Harvey, Marcus Aurelius, Hans Christian Andersen, Thomas Malory, George Gordon Byron, Thomas à Kempis, Richard Steele, Thomas Browne, Archibald Geikie, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Tacitus, William Roper, Hippocrates, Miguel de Cervantes, Thomas More, Friedrich von Schiller, Philip Nichols, Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Pliny the Younger, Edgar Alan Poe, Saint Augustine, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, Francis Drake, Edward Haies, Niccolo Machiavelli, Ambroise Paré, William A. Neilson
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The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Illustrated)
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bookThe Home and the World
Rabindranath Tagore
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau
bookUncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)
Sheridan Le Fanu
bookThe Human Beast by Emile Zola (Illustrated)
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Emile Zola
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bookAdam Bede by George Eliot - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)
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bookUnder Fire
Henri Barbusse
bookThe Pit and the Pendulum
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book50+ Anthology of Christmas Stories and Poems. Classic Collection : A Merry Christmas by Louisa May Alcott, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, A Letter from Santa Claus by Mark Twain, The Three Kings by Leo Tolstoy, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry and others
Charles Dickens, G.K. Chesterton, L.M. Montgomery, L. Frank Baum, Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Leo Tolstoy, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nikolay Gogol, William Dean Howells, Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Elizabeth Harrison, John Milton, Hans Christian Andersen, Selma Lagerlof, Clement Moore, Henry van Dyke, Beatrix Potter, Anton Chehov, O. Henry, Hesba Stretton, Kenneth Grahame, Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott, Alfred Tennyson, Abbie Farwell Brown, Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy, William Butler Yeats, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Kingsley, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, C. W. Stubbs, Eugene Field, Paul Laurence Dunbar, William Topaz McGonagall, Emily Dickinson
bookEffi Briest (Unabridged)
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