The Decameron
-
- $1.99
-
- $1.99
Publisher Description
The Decameron is a collection of 100 novels written by Giovanni Boccaccio in the 14th century and is considered one of the most important works of the 14th century European literature. For its salient features, Boccaccio's work must certainly be counted among the works that inspired the ideal of hedonistic life typical of humanist and Renaissance culture, which hoped for a life dedicated to the pleasure and worship of serene living. The book tells of a group of young men, seven women and three men, who stay out of Florence for ten days to escape the black plague that was bursting in the city at that time, and that in turn, they talk of often humorous stories and with frequent references to the bucolic erotism of time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In time for Giovanni Boccaccio's 700th birthday, Wayne A. Rebhorn, professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin and translator of The Prince and Other Writings by Machiavelli, has provided a strikingly modern translation of Boccaccio's medieval Italian classic. Fleeing Florence and the plague of 1348, 10 young men and women retreat to a country estate, "surrounded by meadows and marvelous gardens," where they spend their days in leisure while the Black Death ravages the city. To fill their time, and affirm life in the face of death, they tell stories: on each of 10 days, every character spins a tale on a theme. Thus, there are 100 stories in total, which range in tone from tragic to triumphant and from pious to bawdy, and which serve as monuments to the rich medieval life and society that the plague was to fundamentally alter. Rebhorn's translation is eminently readable and devoid of the stilted, antiquated speech associated with the classics. Indeed, at times the translator's rendering of Boccaccio's Italian into contemporary idiomatic American English feels jarring: "my cheesy-weesy, sweet honeybun of a wife." But on the whole, his translation's accessibility allows for the timeless humanity of the work to shine through. The Decameron affords a fascinating view into the lost world of late-medieval Italy, and the variety and volume of tales offers us a refuge and relief from the tragedies that haunt our own world.
