The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

In the summer of 1348, as the Black Death ravages their city, ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside. They amuse themselves by each telling a story a day for the ten days they are destined to remain there - a hundred stories of love, adventure and surprising twists of fate. Less preoccupied with abstract concepts of morality or religion than earthly values, the tales range from the bawdy Peronella hiding her lover in a tub to Ser Cepperallo, who, despite his unholy effrontery, becomes a Saint. The result is a towering monument of European literature and a masterpiece of imaginative narrative.

“McWilliam’s finest work, [his] translation of Boccaccio’s Decameron remains one of the most successful and lauded books in the series” —The Times (London)

“The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), made a great impression on me. . . . Ten youths—seven women and three men—take turns telling stories for 10 days. At around the age of 16, I found it reassuring that Boccaccio, in conceiving his narrators, had made most of them women. Here was a great writer, the father of the modern story, presenting seven great female narrators. There was something to hope for. . . . The seven female narrators of the Decameron should never again need to rely on the great Giovanni Boccaccio to express themselves. . . . The female story, told with increasing skill, increasingly widespread and unapologetic, is what must now assume power.” —Elena Ferrante, The New York Times

Boccaccio (1313-1375) was an Italian writer of both verse and prose. He wrote The Decameron over a period of ten years, and is also the author of Teseide and Filostrato.

G H McWilliam was the first Professor of Italian at Leicester University.He has also translated Verga's Cavalleria Rusticana for Penguin Classics

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780140449303
ISBN 10	0140449302
Title	The Decameron
Author	Giovanni Boccaccio
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Year published	2003-03-27
Number of pages	1072
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.