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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Certainly, if I should say that this idea was not pleasing to me, I should surely lie, for it drew forth a gentle sigh from my bosom, accompanied by these words: "And thou art mine!" unless, perchance, the words were but the echo of his, caught by my mind and remaining within it. But what availed it whether such words were spoken or not? The heart had good understanding within itself of that which was not expressed by the lips, and kept, too, within itself that which, if it had escaped outside, might, mayhap, have left me still free. ... Read more

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In Boccaccio's innovative text ten young people leave Florence to escape the Black Death of 1348, and organize their collective life in the countryside through the pleasure and discipline of storytelling. David Wallace guides the reader through their one hundred novelle, which explore both new and familiar conflicts with unprecendented subtlety, urgency and humor: everything from the struggle for domestic space, fought out between individual men and women, to the greater politics of the Mediterranean world where Christian and Arab meet. He emphasizes the relationship between the Decameron and the precocious proto-capitalist culture of Boccaccio's Florence. He also discusses gender issues and the influence of the text, particularly on Chaucer and on the novel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

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initiation also form part of the mosaic.Beyond its entertainment and literary popularity, it remains an important historical document of life in the fourteenth century.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 member of the party tells one story for each one of the nights spent at the villa.Although fourteen days pass, two days each week are set aside: one day for chores and one holy day during which no work is done.In this manner, 100 stories are told by the end of the ten days.Each of the ten characters is charged as King or Queen of the company for one of the ten days in turn.This charge extends to choosing the theme of the stories for that day, and all but two days have topics assigned: examples of the power of fortune; examples of the power of human will; love tales that end tragically; love tales that end happily; clever replies that save the speaker; tricks that women play on men; tricks that people play on each other in general; examples of virtue.Only Dioneo, who usually tells the tenth tale each day, has the right to tell a tale on any topic he wishes, due to his wit.Each day also includes a short introduction and conclusion to continue the frame of the tales by describing other daily activities besides story telling.These frame tale interludes frequently include transcriptions of Italian folk songs.The interactions among tales in a day, or across days, as Boccaccio spins variations and reversals of previous material, forms a whole and not just a collection of stories. The basic plots of the stories including mocking the lust and greed of the clergy; tensions in Italian society between the new wealthy commercial class and noble families; the perils and adventures of traveling merchants.The title is a portmanteau, or combination of two Greek words meaning "ten" and "day".Boccacio made similar Greek etymological plays of words in his other works. The subtitle is Prencipe Galeotto, which derives from the opening material in which Boccaccio dedicates the work to ladies of the day who did not have the diversions of men (hunting, fishing, riding, falconry) who were forced to conceal their amorous passions and stay idle and concealed in their rooms.Thus, the book is subtitled Prencipe Galeotto, that is Galehaut, the go-between of Lancelot and Guinevere, a nod to Dante's allusion to Galeotto in "Inferno V", who was blamed for the arousal of lust in the episode of Paolo and Francesca.

Throughout Decameron, the mercantile ethic prevails and predominates.The commercial and urban values of quick wit, sophistication, and intelligence are treasured, while the vices of stupidity and dullness are cured, or punished.While these traits and values will seem obvious to the modern reader, they were an emerging feature in Europe with the rise of urban centers and a monetized economic system beyond the traditional rural feudal and monastery systems, which placed greater value on piety and loyalty.Beyond the unity provided by the frame narrative, Decameron provides a unity in philosophical outlook.Throughout runs the common medieval theme of Lady Fortune, and how quickly one can rise and fall through the external influences of the "Wheel of Fortune".Boccaccio had been educated in the tradition of Dante's Divine Comedy, which used various levels of allegory to show the connections between the literal events of the story and the hidden Christian message.However, Decameron uses Dante's model not to educate the reader, but to satirize this method of learning.The Roman Catholic Church, priests, and religious belief become the satirical source of comedy throughout.This was part of a wider historical trend in the aftermath of the Black Death, which saw widespread discontent with the church.Many details of the Decameron are infused with a medieval sense of numerological and mystical significance.For example, it is widely believed that the seven young women are meant to represent the Four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude) and the Three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity).It is further supposed that the three men represent the classical Greek tripartite division of the soul (Reason, Spirit, and Lust, see Book IV of Republic).Boccaccio himself notes that the names he gives for these ten characters are in fact pseudonyms chosen as "appropriate to the qualities of each".The Italian names of the seven women, in the same (most likely significant) order as given in the text, are: Pampinea, Fiammetta, Filomena, Emilia, Lauretta, Neifile, and Elissa.The men, in order, are: Panfilo, Filostrato, and Dioneo.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.
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Chaucer made extensive use of Boccaccio's romances as a basis forhis major works, and any analysis of his handling of his sources mustdepend on a knowledge of the Italian poet's work.`His Filostrato has far more energy and subtletythan theR.K. Gordon version; it reminds us just how good Boccaccio is.'THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
`The notes are a model of economy. The introduction is quite superb.' THE TIMES HIGHEREDUCATION SUPPLEMENT ... Read more

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Book Description
Contemporary intellectuals have banished the phrase "human nature" from their vocabulary because it seems to remove human beings from their historical situation. In this volume Gregory Stone argues that medieval thinkers had a way of calling humankind "natural" without implying that humans are bound by a universal, "ahistorical" essence. He shows that in the Middle Ages "nature" and "history" were by no means regarded (as they are by today's literary theorists) as polar opposites. Using Boccaccio's theory of poiesis as a focal point, Stone treats works by Saint Augustine, Cicero, Philo of Alexandria, Meister Eckhart, John Scotus Eriugena, Ramon Llull, and others. He shows that medievals formulated sophisticated, anti-mimetic theories of language and poetry. In addition, he offers fresh interpretations of the works covered, particularly of Boccaccio's writings. The Ethics of Nature in the Middle Ages is a book packed with new and mind-expanding insights for all students of philosophy and the Middle Ages. ... Read more

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