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Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

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Genre(s): ,

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Number of Chapters: 17

Length: 5 hours and 30 minutes

Language: English

In this enchanting fable (subtitled The Choice of Life), Rasselas and his retinue burrow their way out of the totalitarian paradise of the Happy Valley in search of that triad of eighteenth-century aspiration - life, liberty and happiness.

According to that quirky authority, James Boswell, Johnson penned his only work of prose fiction in a handful of days to cover the cost of his mother's funeral. The stylistic elegance of the book and its wide-ranging
philosophical concerns give no hint of haste or superficiality.

Among other still burning issues Johnson's characters pursue questions of education, colonialism, the nature of the soul and even climate alteration.
Johnson's profoundest concern, however, is with the alternating attractions of solitude and social participation, seen not only as the ultimate life-choice but as the arena in which are played out the deepest fears of the individual: "Of the uncertainties of our present state, the most dreadful and alarming is the uncertain continuance of Reason.” (Summary by Martin Geeson)

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01 - Chapters I-IV (Martin Geeson)
02 - Chapters V-VII (Martin Geeson)
03 - Chapters VIII, IX (Martin Geeson)
04 - Chapters X-XII (Martin Geeson)
05 - Chapters XIII-XVI (Martin Geeson)
06 - Chapters XVII-XX (Martin Geeson)
07 - Chapters XXI, XXII (Martin Geeson)
08 - Chapters XXIII-XXVI (Martin Geeson)
09 - Chapters XXVII, XXVIII (Martin Geeson)
10 - Chapters XXIX, XXX (Martin Geeson)
11 - Chapters XXXI-XXXIII (Martin Geeson)
12 - Chapters XXXIV-XXXVII (Martin Geeson)
13 - Chapters XXXVIII, XXXIX (Martin Geeson)
14 - Chapters XL-XLIII (Martin Geeson)
15 - Chapters XLIV, XLV (Martin Geeson)
16 - Chapters XLVI, XLVII (Martin Geeson)
17 - Chapters XLVIII, XLIX (Martin Geeson)
The audiobook Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia falls under the genres of , . It is written by .