SOURCE: "Rasselas Returns—To What?," in Philological Quarterly, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 3, July, 1959, pp. 383-84.

In the following essay, Sherburn argues that, contrary to the assumption of earlier critics, Rasselas and his party do not end their journey with an optimistic return to the Happy Valley. Instead, according to Sherburn, the travellers return to Abissinia only to find the Happy Valley closed to them forever.

Since Rasselas is this year two hundred years old, it is natural for us all to write about it. But it is painful to find people misinterpreting one important fact of the work. In Philological Quarterly for January, 1959, William Kenney optimistically represents the travellers, Rasselas, Imlac, et al. as returning improved, and even hopeful, to the Happy Valley. Such an interpretation—and Kenney is not alone in the error—is totally unwarranted and contrary to Dr. Johnson's intention. The travellers return to Abissinia, but...