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Dr Johnson’s foray into fiction is an oddity. The themes are similar to Candide and they were written at pretty much the same time. For different reasons.
Johnson famously said “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money”. His only novel was no exception. In January 1759 his mother became ill and Johnson needed money to support her and pay her medical bills. He wrote Rasselas in a week, in the evenings. He received one hundred pounds for it and it ended up paying for his mother’s funeral as well.
Like Candide it was meant to be a critique of the philosophy in vogue at the time; the general optimism that everything works out well. It is set in North Africa; Abyssinia and Egypt.
Rasselas is a prince of Abyssinia; his father the emperor has an infallible means of stopping rivalry for the throne by making sure all who challenge him live together in an enclosed valley. They live in absolute luxury and want for nothing. The catch is they cannot leave. Rasselas becomes inquisitive about the outside world and speaks to those who have lived out there. He spends time with a man of science (all needs are catered for) who speculates that they might be able to build something that will enable they to fly out. This enables Johnson to be prophetic about humanity conquering flight saying that it would be a disaster because of the implications of being able to move armies and arms around too quickly (got that one right Dr J!) The flight idea is a flop and eventually it is a philosopher called Imlac who works out a way of escape (geeks win again!). Rasselas and Imlac are accompanied by his sister Nekayah and her attendant Pekuah.
They wander around Egypt and explore the monastic life, life devoted to learning, wisdom and science, the pastoral life, poverty, power and rulers. There is a good deal of rather irritating philosophising and debate and some repetition (even for a short novel). Inevitably they find all ways of life have their drawbacks and everyone wishes they had picked a different track and everyone wishes they could be young again. They go round in circles for a bit and get absolutely nowhere and head back to their valley.
However there is a little off the wall conclusion as part of the last chapter. Each of them decide on an ideal course if they were able to do what they wanted. Imlac, the philosopher wanted to drift around the world examining all these different ways of life. Rasselas wanted a small kingdom where he could have enough control to ensure everything was justly run and his subjects happy. Pekuah wanted to join a convent and be a nun. Rasselas’s sister Nekayah wanted to found “a college of learned women” where women could learn sciences and the wisdom of the world (didn’t see that one coming I must admit).
All in all a mixed bag; Johnson isn’t exactly fluent and you can tell it was written in a rush. However it was redeemed by some interesting ideas and speculations and Dr Johnson suggesting a university for women would be a good idea in 1759.