6/2-6/8 : The Decameron, First Day, Introduction & Stories 1-5

[Kris]

This thread is for the discussion of The Decameron, First Day, Introduction & Stories 1-5.

[Emma]

I really liked the first story :) and I looked into if there really is a "Saint Ciappaletto" but I couldn't find anything. Does anyone know anything about that?

[Book Portrait]

You two early birds are making me itch to start! :) But I need to finish a book before that... *itching*

Dlee wrote: "This is the first time the immorality and its reasons have been broached. At least none of the modern stories based on Plague times ..."

That's a great point. I'm very curious to see how Boccaccio presents the frame of his stories. The 1347-1351 "Black Death" pandemics was devastating in Europe so using it as backdrop to a courtly (?) game is not innocent...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

[Kalliope]

I will not be able to start this until later in the week, for various reasons, but will try to catch up and stay on pace.

That map is very helpful, BP.

[Book Portrait]

Kalliope wrote: "I will not be able to start this until later in the week, for various reasons, but will try to catch up and stay on pace.

That map is very helpful, BP."

Hurry up to catch up!! Lol, says she who hasn't started yet. ;)

On the map Florence is marked as "center of uprisings" so the plague was probably particularly severe there... I'll have to look into it...

The Plague was actually devastating throughout the "connected" world:

From 1347 to 1351, the Black Death, a massive and deadly pandemic originating in China, spread along the Silk Road and swept through Asia, Europe and Africa. It may have reduced the world's population from 450 million to between 350 and 375 million. China lost around half of its population, from around 123 million to around 65 million; Europe around 1/3 of its population, from about 75 million to about 50 million; and Africa approximately 1/8 of its population, from around 80 million to 70 million (mortality rates tended to be correlated with population density so Africa, being less dense overall, had the lowest death rate).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_%...

[Kalliope]

Book Portrait wrote: "
That map is very helpful, BP."

Hurry up to catch up!! Lo..."

I imagine (not read yet) that the classic by Tuchman should be relevant for this read A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

[Jan-Maat]

Kalliope wrote: "I imagine (not read yet) that the classic by Tuchman should be relevant for this read A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century "

I'd say that The Merchant of Prato would be more relevant. Tuchman's book takes a French nobleman as its focal point which is quite removed from the world of Boccaccio's stories as far as I remember - townspeople, peasants, lower nobility mostly in Italy. The Prato book covers the period of the black death looking at daily life in the household of a North Italian merchant which is much closer to Boccaccio's background and personal milieu.

PS I'll be starting on the Decameron later this week

[Kalliope]

Jan-Maat wrote: "Kalliope wrote: "I imagine (not read yet) that the classic by Tuchman should be relevant for this read A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century "

I'd say that [book:The Merchant of Prato|8357..."

Thank you, Jan-Maat.

I will wait then with Tuchman, although I have it already. I will look into the other one. It looks perfect.

[Renato]

Hey guys!
I already read this week's section, haha. I was too curious about it plus the rest of the week will be kind of hectic for me.

I confess I haven't read much about the book. How was its reception upon release? Was it controversial?

[Emma]

I read it like two weeks ago...

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

A feast of storytelling: 'The Banquet in the Pinewoods' (1483) by Sandro Botticelli (and workshop), depicting The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti, the eighth tale of the fifth day in The Decameron

The Decameron is one of the great fountainheads of storytelling. Its astonishing narrative fecundity, its dazzling shifts of mood and style, its deliberate counterpoise of artifice and artlessness, its sense that the plainest of ordinary lives conceals the possibility of something fabulous – all these have made it a mother lode of European fiction. Unlike its Oriental forerunners such as The Arabian Nights, this medieval collection of 100 tales offers nothing in the way of magic, fantasy or shape-changing. Marvels and prodigies spring not from the supernatural but arise instead from the chance and coincidence governing even the best-regulated human existence. .....

Introducing his fluent and elegant new translation, Wayne A Rebhorn emphasises Boccaccio’s enduring debt to Dante, the writer on whom he lectured to the Florentines and to whose great work The Decameron pays homage in its structure and moral intent as well as in a scatter of echoes from the poem. Like Dante, Boccaccio begins in mid-catastrophe. The plague has struck at the heart of Florentine society, undermined the rule of law and effectively destroyed the world of privilege, ceremony and respect on which the city’s daily rhythms depend. In streets choked with corpses “there were no tears or candles or mourners to honour the dead; on the contrary, it had reached the point that people who died were treated like goats”.

To read the rest: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

The Decameron consists of one hundred tales--ten tales told over ten days by ten storytellers, three noblemen and seven ladies. The structure of the work is distinctly medieval by virtue of its allegorical numerology and elaborate architecture, which finds its counterpart in the Gothic cathedral; its scathing and hilarious depictions of a corrupt clergy; and its idealization of women. However, Boccaccio’s attitude towards love--the right true end being pleasurable and guiltless consummation--is much closer to the Renaissance viewpoint.

In addition to the stories is a lengthy introduction in which Boccaccio describes the "brief unpleasantness" necessitating the geographical wanderings and narrative adventures of the ten storytellers, the outbreak of bubonic plague in Florence in 1348.

Commentary The "Author’s Introduction" to The Decameron is both an important historical document of the Black Death in Europe and a significant example of the emergent conventions of plague chronicles and narratives in western culture. For example, Boccaccio proffers the by now familiar conjecture about the source of contagion, a heathen and uncivilized Other (in this case, the infidel East) and the by now common explanation for any medical catastrophe: "God’s righteous anger at our iniquitous way of life."

Most interesting is his protracted description of the display of human behavior during epidemic such as the scapegoating of groups and individuals; the abandonment of family and friends; the personal choices of isolation or dissolution; the cruel indifference to a disproportionately affected underclass. Boccaccio also comments on the deterioration of social institutions such as religion, medicine and public health, law, and customs--all of which prove to no avail in either controlling or comprehending what is happening.

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

In the society that Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron is set in, women generally are held in a lower social standing than men. As with most societies until relatively recently in history, women were not allowed to have a significant role in society, other than that of a wife and mother. In The Decameron, Boccaccio demonstrates that while they may not have significant social standing, women do have an upper hand in most aspects of the male-female relationship. Although the one hundred stories deal with an array of topics, when Boccaccio compares men and women, it appears that he favors women as the better sex in terms of both good and evil. When examining stories where Boccaccio details male-female relationships, it emerges that women are stronger, more lustful, and more cunning. Furthermore, in the instances where the male character appears to triumph or surpass the woman, men usually achieve victory through underhanded means. Overall, it is fair to say that Boccaccio does portray women as outshining men in many respects−some positive, and some negative.



Boccaccio portrays women in The Decameron as being hardier than men. While this trait is not as prevalent throughout the stories, Boccaccio demonstrates that women tolerate more adversity than men do. This increased tolerance for adversity may stem from a basic lack of options: if women are facing some sort of hardship, they have no power to try to eliminate their problems. As a result, women typically endure large amounts of hardship.


(view spoiler)[ Boccaccio most emphasizes this increased tolerance in the story involving the Marquis of Sanluzzo, Gualtieri, and his bride Griselda. In the story, Gualtieri’s vassals coerce him to choose a woman for a bride−Gualtieri decides to choose Griselda, a poor young girl of lower-class birth. To prove her worth, Gualtieri decides to test her: calling her names, leading her to believe he murdered her children, and even divorcing her and remarrying (791-96). Throughout all of these tribulations, Griselda maintains a calm demeanor and simply acquiesces to all of Gualtieri’s absurd demands; even the vassals that once doubted her background and character now laud her for her saintly patience. Griselda’s patience comes back to reward her in the end−Gualtieri acknowledges her virtuous behavior and declares that she has passed his test−but not before the audience comes to understand that Griselda, and by extension women, can tolerate more hardships than men. One can see that Boccaccio’s extensive detailing of Gualtieri’s unwarranted and cruel acts towards Griselda serve to underline the notion that women can tolerate more adversity than men can. As a result, the audience finds it easy to believe that Boccaccio feels that women can accept more difficulties than men.



One theme common to both sexes in The Decameron is their overt sexuality. Many of Boccaccio’s stories deal with sexual relationships and members of both sexes are portrayed as perpetually sexually aroused−many stories deal with affairs and other illicit relationships. However, while both sexes are portrayed as being sexual creatures, Boccaccio’s stories emphasize the striking imbalance between the male and female desire for lust. Boccaccio demonstrates that women are significantly more sexual than men, many of the stories told in The Decameron center around female lust. For example, on the Third Day Filostrato tells the story of a young man, Masetto, who learns of a job as a gardener in a convent. Learning that part of the job's responsibility is sexually satisfying the nuns of the convent, Masetto pretends to be deaf in an attempt to trick the abbess into hiring him, foolishly believing that his lust surpasses that of an entire convent filled with nuns. However, Masetto gets more than he bargains for: he ends up being the sole sexual outlet for a convent full of nuns. This overt amount of sexual desire overwhelms Masetto: “I can’t stand it any longer...so...let me go, in God’s name” (199). It is apparent from Masetto’s outburst that he no longer foolishly believes that his lust can counter the lust of the entire convent−he pleads with the abbess to be let go.



Dioneo's telling of the story of Alibech and Rustico further demonstrates the abundance of female sexual lust on the third day. Rustico, giving in to his desire for lust, deceives Alibech into thinking that if they have sex, Alibech will be “putting the devil back into hell” (279). With time, Dioneo details the effects of Rustico’s deception−Alibech becomes insatiably aroused at all times, to the point where Rustico’s lust cannot compensate for Alibech’s. Again, Boccaccio details a case where a man foolishly believes that he has more lust than a woman, only to be utterly shocked by the woman’s exhausting desire for lust. In short, Boccaccio once more proves that women exceed men in some aspect of their lives, in this case, lust.



In addition to demonstrating women’s hyper-sexuality, Boccaccio also depicts women as being superior in skill in terms of cunning. This skill, perhaps most emphasized throughout the stories, seems to be the one in which women surpass men the most. Throughout the stories, the character that tends to formulate plans that involve a significant degree of cunning is female. Whether Boccaccio is trying to pronounce some sort of opinion on the trustworthiness of women is unclear, at any rate, he makes it vehemently clear that women possess superior expertise in devising devious plans.



Perhaps the first example of this disparity occurs on the Seventh Day, when Elissa tells the story of brother Rinaldo and his godchild’s mother. The narrator takes time to detail the craftiness of both genders, to serve as a comparison by which to evaluate the overall cunning of each gender. Brother Rinaldo is shown to have had an elaborate plan to seduce his neighbor’s wife, which included becoming friends with his neighbor, becoming his neighbor’s son’s godfather, and eventually seducing his neighbor’s wife, Madonna Agnesa (497-98). However, the narrator then details Madonna’s crafty plan to avoid being caught−by far surpassing Rinaldo’s cunning. Madonna, who until this point appears to be fairly unintelligent, devises a plan to explain to her husband why she and the friar were in the bedroom with the door locked (500-01). By characterizing Madonna as somewhat brainless until this point, Boccaccio strengthens the contrast when she suddenly, cunningly concocts a plan to avoid any trouble with her husband. Furthermore, Madonna’s superior cunning is further highlighted by the fact that Rinaldo scrambles and fails to come up with a plan to evade getting into trouble with his friend. Based on this story, it appears that Boccaccio feels that women are significantly more cunning than men.



Yet another example of Boccaccio’s depiction of women’s superior cunning occurs again on the Seventh Day, This story, narrated by Neifile, details the superior cunning of Monna Sismonda in a myriad of ways. First, Neifile describes the system that Monna Sismonda has devised to discreetly have sex with Ruberto, her lover (528). Furthermore, if this alone was not cunning enough, after she realizes her husband has discovered her system for alerting her lover and by extension her affair with Ruberto, Monna Sismonda quickly decides to call her maidservant to take her place in bed. This allows her to avoid being beaten, and eventually to trick her brothers into believing that her husband is lying to them (529-535). In both parts of the story, Monna Sismond displays superior craftiness; being able both to construct an elaborate method to avoid being caught and then to further avoid any trouble after being caught. In this case, it is plainly apparent that Boccaccio is depicting the superior cunning of women over men, who cannot seem to rival the apparent craftiness of the softer sex.



While there are many stories in which Boccaccio informally declares women to be the victor, one can argue that the reverse is also true. In other words, there exist stories where men emerge victorious over women and appear to surpass women in some way. While this is true, it is important to note the circumstances under which men claim superiority−men emerge victorious in The Decameron because of their own depravity and not through a superior use of cunning or intellect. For example on the Fifth Day, Dioneo tells the story Pietro di Vinciolo and his wife. Pietro discovers his wife’s lover in their chicken coop and determines a suitable punishment for the two of them (438-39). Pietro decides that the best course of action is for the man to have sex with them both, as Pietro has no desire to have sex with his own wife. Here Pietro only obtains what he desires not through superior cunning or intellect but through good timing; his fortune in catching his wife’s lover allows him to coerce him to do as he pleases.



Another example of male depravity leading to superiority occurs on the Eighth Day, when Panfilo tells the story of Belcolore and the priest. In the story, the priest manages to fool Belcolore into having sex with him and to double cross Belcolore to get out of having any obligations to her. When Belcolore realizes his plan, she stops talking to him−much to the priest’s dismay. The priest gets so angry that the only way for him to make Belcolore talk to him again is by invoking his priestly abilities, threatening to curse Belcolore into hell (563-64). Boccaccio makes it clear that the priest can think of no plan to assuage Belcolore’s anger than to threaten her with the prospect of purgatory. This method, cruel as it is, suggests that Boccaccio believes men gain victory through dishonorable means−not through use of superior judgment. As the stories demonstrate, when a male victory occurs, it is typically achieved with deceit and not with superior trickery, as the women of The Decameron do.

Boccaccio’s The Decameron, while touching on a variety of topics and themes, provides a significant amount of commentary on the differing characteristics of men and women. The stories seem to propose that women are significantly superior in many aspects; specifically, Boccaccio implies that women are hardier, more lustful, and more cunning. In the stories, the various narrators compare both male and female attempts at these characteristics in an effort to provide a reference with which to compare the genders−in each case, the women come out on top. Women come across as outdoing men in all these respects, moreover, in the off chance that men somehow can unwittingly outperform a woman in The Decameron, they must resort to deceptive means in order to succeed. Boccaccio’s The Decameron demonstrates the subtler powers of women; though they do not enjoy any real power in the social hierarchy of the 14th century, they do possess a considerable amount of power over the male sex because of their superiority over men. In depicting the superiority of women over men in these ways, Boccaccio reveals the masked power of women over men.(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Amelia]

Hello all! I enjoyed the Author's Introduction and the First Story so far. I also appreciated reading the Translator's Introduction, despite it being a bit lengthy, reading the G. H. McWilliam translation. I particularly found interesting the point that the male narrators represent the division of the human soul with Reason personified in Panfilo, Anger in Filostrato and Lust in Dioneo. So too are the seven virtues associated with the female narrators: Pampinea/Prudence, Fiammetta/Temperance, Filomena/Fortitude, Lauretta/Justice, Emilia/Faith, Elissa/Hope and Neifile/Charity. I am also looking forward to seeing the influence of Dante as we read. What a perfect transition.

[William]

Hey everybody! Just chiming in here, looking forward to tackling this, I was with the Proust group from the start, but couldn't keep up with lots of life stuff happening, good and bad, and I'm the creator of the iCal file for this group way back at the start of the year. I've been poking my way through Dante slower than you all, as it's my 3rd or 4th read through, but I'll be more involved with this, as it's the first time I've ever read it, looking forward to it!

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

So nice to see you all reading with us!



Boccaccio with Queen Jeanne of Naples




John William Waterhouse, Decameron (1837)



Franz Xavier Winterhalter (1805-1873) The Decameron

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

The Title Page:

[ReemK10 (Paper Pills)]

Manuscript of the Decameron:

[Yann]

Very nice content Reem! Thanks!

[Jan-Maat]

Emma wrote: "I really liked the first story :) and I looked into if there really is a "Saint Ciappaletto" but I couldn't find anything. Does anyone know anything about that?"

No there wouldn't be - that would be blasphemous! As it is the story is just a joke on the credulity of Friars (particularly French ones).

[Sue]

I'm still reading the introduction (lots of interesting information) and haven't made it to the first story yet. Tempted to skip ahead but have forced myself not to do that.

Thank you for the beautiful art work.

[Jan-Maat]

Just realised that the second story is set in the past - during Boccaccio's lifetime the Popes were based in Avignon not in Rome.

[Book Portrait]

Hi Renato, Toto, Amelia & Will! Welcome to our little Toscan Palazzo. :)

From what I remember when we looked up Fiesole for Dante, the Villa Palmieri is supposed to be the setting for Boccaccio's Decameron:


bigger: http://www.poderesantapia.com/images/...
http://www.casasantapia.com/images/ga...


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Pa...

More (view spoiler)[


http://profstanco.com/2014/05/28/tort...


http://www.ebay.it/itm/CARTOLINA-FIRE...


http://eugenerayarchitect.blogspot.fr...


http://eugenerayarchitect.blogspot.fr...

(hide spoiler)]

For a google earth sneak peek at the villa: http://www.poderesantapia.com/gardens...
More pics of the villa: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cat...
The gorgeous hills of Fiesole: http://dldfoto.altervista.org/fiesole/

[Book Portrait]

Renato wrote: "How was its reception upon release? Was it controversial?"

I'm wondering the same thing. I'm just about to start reading the text and I intend to skip the intro (for now) but I have a biography of Boccaccio lined up too... Hopefully there'll be some deets there. :)

[Book Portrait]

Emma wrote: "I read it like two weeks ago..."

Emma, are you reading it Italian like you did la Commedia? I'd be curious to know how Dante & Boccaccio's languages compare... Dante was the first to write in vernacular Italian IIRC and, although he did it in verses, I wonder how the language evolved over the few decades that separate him from Boccaccio... Or maybe it's the prose style that gives it a different feel?

[Book Portrait]

ReemK10 (Paper Pills) wrote: "Manuscript of the Decameron:"

Reem you've been busy! Thank you for all these goodies. I need to catch up with you! :)

[Sue]

Book Portrait wrote: "Renato wrote: "How was its reception upon release? Was it controversial?"

I'm wondering the same thing. I'm just about to start reading the text and I intend to skip the intro (for now) but I have..."

I finally finished the intro (have to admit to some skimming at the end as the summaries of various stories were leaving me bleary eyed and wanting to actually read the stories themselves. but the earlier parts of the intro had some interesting sections.

Now I will begin the stories tomorrow.

[Book Portrait]

Sue wrote: "I finally finished the intro (have to admit to some skimming at the end as the summaries of various stories were leaving me bleary eyed and wanting to actually read the stories themselves. but the earlier parts of the intro had some inter..."

You'll like the stories. :) I read the prologue and introduction yesterday, but skipped the editor's preface and the translator's introduction. Maybe I'll come back to them after I've read this week's section. At the moment, I'm searching the internet for illustrations and such important things. :D


Big: http://margheritafontanesi.files.word...
Drawing by Boccaccio (ms 482 BnF, 1365-67)

[Jan-Maat]

The idea is that since Christianity is growing even though its leadership is so corrupt there must be something to it after all. As the man says that proves that it is supported by the Holy Ghost, so he converts.

[Book Portrait]

DL wrote: "I finished the first 5 stories. I don't know why I'm so surprised at their readability. In the first 5 stories the clever man outfoxed the clergy. Except in the second story where a Christian manag..."

I'm planning to read the first five stories tonight. I was surprised too by the readability of the prologue & introduction. The description of the plague in Florence made me believe that Boccaccio had witnessed all this but a note pointedly asserts the contrary...

[Yann]

Jan-Maat wrote: "The idea is that since Christianity is growing even though its leadership is so corrupt there must be something to it after all. As the man says that proves that it is supported by the Holy Ghost,..."

I just loved that story! I wonder if there is something similar in Chaucer ?

[Jan-Maat]

Yann wrote: "I just loved that story! I wonder if there is something similar in Chaucer ? "

Apparently not according to this website:
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer...


Book Portrait wrote: "The description of the plague in Florence made me believe that Boccaccio had witnessed all this but a note pointedly asserts the contrary..."

He would have certainly witnessed the plague somewhere though. What he says of Florence would have been true of other places too: the fear, the breakdown of customs, the hasty burials...

[Book Portrait]

Jan-Maat wrote: "He would have certainly witnessed the plague somewhere though. What he says of Florence would have been true of other places too: the fear, the breakdown of customs, the hasty burials..."

Thanks. I checked and both Brown and another site confirm that Boccaccio was in Florence during the Plague:


Brown: (view spoiler)[

1340-41 :Boccaccio returns to Florence. Most likely Giovanni left Naples in the winter of 1340-41, thus unable to witness the coronation, in 1341, of Petrarca as the king's poet laureate. Back in Florence, he found a city ravaged by the Plague of the year before, which (according to Giovanni Villani's Chronicle) killed a sixth of the population; he also found political turmoil, linked to the financial difficulties of the "compagnie," including his father's employer, the Bardi, and the other major, the Peruzzi. Both had lent enormous sums of money to the King of England (Edward III) to finance his military expedition against France (which, in 1336, started a war destined to last for more than a hundred years -- the hundred years war). When the king defaulted on his debt, they went bankrupt. In the attempt to stave off the bankruptcy, a group of prominent citizens of Florence arranged a coup: Walter of Brienne, a French military leader, was named signore of the city in 1342. His dictatorship lasted only a year and he was driven out of Florence in August 1343 by a coalition of magnates (the old aristocrats), popolani (the nouveaux riches) and artisans. Within weeks of this uprising, conflict broke out between the magnates and the popolani. The latter won and the regime established by them was broadly representative of the guild community. In the meantime, in the same year 1343, king Robert died in Naples and a struggle for succession began: B.'s hopes to quickly return to the city of his youth, with the help of his now powerful and influential friend Nicola Acciaiuoli, were repeatedly stifled.

(hide spoiler)] http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Ital...

Pathways: (view spoiler)[The “Black Death”

Boccaccio was in Florence in 1348, the year it was ravaged by the “Black Death”. With this term (or “Great Death” or “Black Pestilence” in Italy) we normally refer to the epidemic that hit Europe between 1347 and 1352, killing off at least a third of the population (25-30 million dead out of a population of 75-80 million). Giovanni lost friends like Matteo Frescobaldi, Giovanni Villani and Franceschino degli Albizzi. Painful losses also hit his family, with the death of his father and stepmother, following which Boccaccio inherited the whole of his father’s wealth and took over its management together with responsibility for his brother, who was not yet of age.

This historic event had a tragic effect and was a turning point in Boccaccio’s life, as it forced him to take on full responsibility for his family. The 1348 plague is mentioned in the initial pages of the Decameron: I, Introduction. L’“orrido cominciamento/horrid commencement” became the motor force capable of setting off the telling of the tale, that encompasses the hundred stories of the book. The story is about ten youths, seven women and three men, who met in the Church of Santa Maria Novella whilst the plague was raging, and who decided to leave Florence in order to wait for the passing of the epidemic in the country, where they passed the time in games, dancing and storytelling. The contour of death that surrounds the Decameron leaves ample scope for the nefarious description of this terrible plight at a social and moral level. The common denominator to the atrocities illustrated by Boccaccio, with the rigor of the chronicler an the participation of the eyewitness, is indicated in the infringement of the natural and social laws. Florence, afflicted by this epidemic, experienced a degradation of men who, for fear of contagion, wouldn’t even succour their closest relatives, children included. With this rupture in family values came the upturn of moral and religious order, with the desecration of the cult of the dead and a turn toward dissolute behaviour.

(hide spoiler)] http://www.internetculturale.it/openc...


Whereas McWilliams' notes say:

"Boccacio's famous description of the ruinous effects of the plague in Florence in 1348, graphic and convincing though it may appear, is not to be read as the eyewitness account he claims it to be. It is in fact based upon earlier plague descriptions, in particular the one found in the eigth-century Historia Langobardorum by Paulus Diaconus ('Paul the Deacon')."

It makes one reads the Penguin's notes with a more critical eye...

[Book Portrait]

Yann wrote: "I just loved that story! I wonder if there is something similar in Chaucer ? "

You know this second story is so concise and striking with its little twisty logic, it makes me wonder where Boccaccio found the inspiration for this type of humorous/paradoxical thinking. I'm not sure why but I'd spontaneously associate it more with the Jewish or Greek culture than the Christian one (not that I'm an expert in any of these!)...

[Kalliope]

In the Introduction I enjoyed reading about the women who would go to the house of the defunct... Recently I attended a lecture that talked about what in Spanish are called "plañideras", or the "plaintives" in Art...

A sample from 13th century.



And Egyptian:

[Kalliope]

In the first tale, the pope Boniface must be Boniface VIII, the pope that Dante hated so much.

[Yann]

Kalliope wrote: "In the first tale, the pope Boniface must be Boniface VIII, the pope that Dante hated so much."

Interesting! Here is Boniface VIII arrested by Guillaume de Nogaret, send by Philippe le Bel, king of France (8 september 1303):

[Kalliope]

Yann wrote: "Kalliope wrote: "In the first tale, the pope Boniface must be Boniface VIII, the pope that Dante hated so much."

Interesting! Here is Boniface VIII arrested by Guillaume de Nogaret, send by Philip..."

Dante would love to see that illustration... I also like it but for different reasons...

[Yann]

Kalliope wrote: "Yann wrote: "Kalliope wrote: "In the first tale, the pope Boniface must be Boniface VIII, the pope that Dante hated so much."

Interesting! Here is Boniface VIII arrested by Guillaume de Nogaret, s..."

You are right: Dante talked about that in Purgatorio, Canto XX, 85-90. I forgotted! >.<
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atentado...

[Sue]

I really like actually reading Boccacio's own words in his description of the Plague and the introduction of his characters. In the future I would forgo the translator's intro.

[Sue]

DL wrote: "I started the intro then decided it was giving away too much of the story. I wanted to discover them on my own. Glad I skipped it."

You made a wise decision! He really pulls it apart too much. That's when I really skimmed completely. I am enjoying the translation very much.

[Book Portrait]

Toto wrote: "... delightful little ditties, ... with a clear nod to various traditions of story telling....showcase are the pleasures of outwitting one another..."

I get the same vibe from these stories. They're entertaining in the best possible way. I'm loving the wit and the light-but-serious tone.

[Book Portrait]

Sue wrote: "DL wrote: "I started the intro then decided it was giving away too much of the story. I wanted to discover them on my own. Glad I skipped it."

You made a wise decision! He really pulls it apart ..."

Glad I skipped it too! I'll come back to it when we're finished. Like DL I just want to discover the stories on my own first.

[Book Portrait]

Kalliope & Yann's comments as well as Jan-Maat's remark on the story being set in the past correspond to what I read in Boccace: Conteur et passeur de la Renaissance (which I've barely started but seems really good). This passage in particular, which talks about the influence of his father's stories from when he worked as a merchant-banker in Paris at the beginning of the XIVth century:

Cette prospérité faisait du père de Boccace un riche marchand et lui donnait une autorité certaine dans le milieu des "lombards". Pour son jeune fils vivant à Florence, il fut une source inépuisable de récits ayant le monde du commerce comme scène grandiose et comme héros des marchands, grands, moyens ou petits, nobles ou bourgeois. On a pu évoquer le Décameron à juste titre comme "l'épopée des marchands"* et, à l'instar de toute épopée, celle-ci ne se situe pas dans le présent du conteur, mais dans le passé, lequel est le présent de son père au début du XIVe siècle, lorsque le commerce florentin s'étendait de l'Orient à l'Occident et que Paris en était le carrefour.

* Vittore Branca, who seems to be a foremost scholard was the one who called it "l'epopea dei mercatanti"

[Book Portrait]

Illustrations - Prologue & Introduction



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BnF ms italien 63 - Boccacio writing

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BnF ms italien 63 - Allegory of the Plague


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ms italien 63 - Pampinea & her friends in church


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ms italien 63 - Pampinea elected Queen


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ms italien 63 - Pampinea governing


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BnF ms français 239 - First page detail - Plague pandemics in Florence, meeting of the protagonists in church & protagonists leaving Florence


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BnF ms français 239 - First page


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BnF - ms français 129 - First page detail


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BnF - ms français 129 - First page


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BnF ms français 129 - presentation of the book; Laurent de Premierfait translating the book


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BnF ms français 129



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ms italien 487 - Boccacio writing



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ms français 12420 - Boccaccio writing

{sorry they're all out of order. I need to warm up and find the best sources! :)}

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[Kalliope]

Book Portrait wrote: "Kalliope & Yann's comments as well as Jan-Maat's remark on the story being set in the past correspond to what I read in Boccace: Conteur et passeur de la Renaissance (which I've bar..."

Thank you, I am eyeing the Marietti book... I am currently reading Boccaccio: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works

[Book Portrait]

Illustrations - Day I Story 1



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ms63 - Prayers to Cepperello

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ms 5070


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ms 240 - Cepperello's confession


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Vatican Pal lat 1989


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Gravelot

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[Book Portrait]

Kalliope wrote: "Thank you, I am eyeing the Marietti book... I am currently reading Boccaccio: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works "

I've really only started Marietti's book... How are you liking the critical guide? Is it similar to the Raffa one on Dante?

[Kalliope]

Book Portrait wrote: "Kalliope wrote: "Thank you, I am eyeing the Marietti book... I am currently reading Boccaccio: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works "

I've really only started Marietti's book... How are you liki..."

No, more like essays... Too early to tell.. just two chapters in but one I stopped because it had spoilers...

[Book Portrait]

Illustrations - Day I story 2



http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ConsulterEl...
ms 63 - Abraham/John's baptism

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ms 5070


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Pal lat 1989

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