A Terrific Intro to Samuel Johnson

I'd read enough about Dr. Johnson, thanks to James Boswell, so it was time to read something by Dr. Johnson. This was an ideal selection for a reader like myself who has more experience with nonfiction and struggles to keep up with poetry. Rasselas is brief (150 pages, including a 34-page introduction that is very skippable), broken up into short chapters ideal for the reader who only has a few minutes at a time, and like a good fairy tale is accessible to anyone, regardless of historical knowledge or context.

Rasselas is the story of a prince and princess who escape from a Shangri La-like existence in a secluded valley where the children of the royal family of Abissinia are kept in perpetual comfort and amusement. The prince and princess want to see the world, and Johnson gives them a pretty good tour of it. Their upbringing makes them naive about the wicked ways of the world, but they have a trustworthy guide who accompanies them with extensive knowledge of life outside the happy valley, and their idyllic training in childhood has somehow produced noble character in both of them to carry them through in their journey.

Though not parallel in structure or purpose, I kept feeling like I was reading Ecclesiastes -- something about the main characters' exposure to and sampling of all the world has to offer and seeing at last that there really isn't anything new, better and more exciting out there. Where does that leave us? Usually back where we started, but with a softer heart toward our problems and the people in our lives and their problems.