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The Decameron (Penguin Classics)
by: Giovanni Boccaccio

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 853.1
EAN: 9780140449303
ISBN: 0140449302
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 1072
Publication Date: April 29, 2003
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Release Date: April 29, 2003
Sales Rank: 17674
Studio: Penguin Classics

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Product Description:
Translated with an Introduction and Notes by G. H. McWilliam

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- A reward not for the faint of heart
A wonderful work, these refreshing pieces have a verve that is hard to find in medieval literature. Irate Italians who complain of Chaucer stealing from Boccaccio should consider medieval thought on authority and originality. A complex collection, rightfully earning its place as one of Italy's greatest literary products.

Rating:

- Bawdy tales of love
This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.
The "Decameron" is a collection of 100 novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, probably begun in 1350 and finished in 1353. It is a medieval allegorical work best known for its bawdy tales of love, appearing in all its possibilities from the erotic to the tragic. Other topics such as wit and witticism, practical jokes and worldly initiation also form part of the mosaic. Beyond its entertainment and literary popularity, it remains an important historical document of life in the fourteenth century.

Decameron is structured in a frame narrative, or frame tale. Boccaccio begins with a description of the Black Death and leads into an introduction of a group of seven young women and three young men who flee from plague-ridden Florence to a villa in the (then) countryside of Fiesole for two weeks. To pass the time, each ... Read More

Rating:

- A 10 days work to read
The Decameron is one of the most revered works in Italian literary history. That being said it is surpsingly not hard for the modern reader to both understand and enjoy this lengthy novel. The book tells the tale of 10 people, 7 female and 3 male, and the 100 stories that they tell while in the Italian countryside while trying to escape from the plague. The stories are even whimsically funny at times but in the end a deep moral truth is revealed. A student of history would be well advised to read this classic tale as it allows for a deeper understanding of the time period.

Rating:

- A book to dip into
For history-lovers, medieval scholars and anyone interested in the development of story-telling in the written as opposed to verbal form, this book is very important. I started by dipping into it, reading one story here and one there (it is a collection of a hundred short stories) and then slowly reading the whole book. Some of the stories could have benefited from a more 'up-beat/modern' translation but overall the book works well and Boccacio is good, although, I have to say, nothing beats reading Chaucer in the original Middle English. It's like Strindberg - great in Swedish, dreadful in English. Boccacio in Latin would probably be awesome but beyond me I'm afraid!!!

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