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270th out of 424 books
—
46 voters
The Decameron: Selected Tales
A group of young people flee to the countryside from plague-ridden Florence and pass the time in their retreat by telling tales of romance. Thisselection from Boccaccio's landmark of medieval literature features 25 stories from the original 100, all teeming with colorful characters andworldly wisdom. J. M. Rigg translation....more
Paperback, thrift, 192 pages
Published
April 20th 2011
by Dover Publications
(first published 1475)
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Wow, so I didn't realize that books written in the 1300s spoke of such (what is considered) contemporary subjects! Easy to read, selection of short stories. I learned that: you should never trust strangers who claim to be relations, if a father kills a woman's lover she will probably commit suicide because of her intense grief, and I am so glad I never married a nobleman--those guys are trouble!
I have, as of the time of this review, only read one story from The Decameron, that being Federigo's Falcon. I'll read the rest sometime.
Federigo's Falcon is a wonderful example of situational irony that will bring to mind O. Henry's Gift of the Magi. The Decameron was written by an Italian near-contemporary of Chaucer and it follows a similar structure to Canterbury Tales: a group of people (in this case, fleeing from a plague) tell each other stories to pass the time.
I've heard that there ar...more
Federigo's Falcon is a wonderful example of situational irony that will bring to mind O. Henry's Gift of the Magi. The Decameron was written by an Italian near-contemporary of Chaucer and it follows a similar structure to Canterbury Tales: a group of people (in this case, fleeing from a plague) tell each other stories to pass the time.
I've heard that there ar...more
just read the first few stories and intro.
I learned that sex and satire are really old and always entertaining
I learned that sex and satire are really old and always entertaining
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Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian author and poet, a friend and correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular. Boccaccio is particularly notable for his dialogue, of which it has been said that it surpasses in veris...more
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Dec 04, 2012 11:06am