The Orbit of Pursuit in Johnson's Rasselas.

Rasselas (1759), a story of the quest for a life of flawless happiness, could be read as a rejection of the facile assumptions and assurances of philosophical Optimism in the context of the Enlightenment. In this article an attempt is made to follow Rasselas along his quest and see, through his eyes, the emerging picture of the insatiability of man's desires. The aim is to throw into high relief the central humanist motif of the circular orbit of human desire as it revolves in harmony with all other particles of the material universe, and to trace the text as it recoils on itself in an allegorical manifestation of Rasselas' pursuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]