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The Decameron (Penguin Classics)
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The Decameron (Penguin Classics) Paperback - 2003

by Boccaccio, Giovanni

  • Used
  • Paperback

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by G. H. McWilliam

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Description

Penguin Classics, 2003-04-29. 2nd. paperback. Used:Good.
Used:Good
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Details

  • Title The Decameron (Penguin Classics)
  • Author Boccaccio, Giovanni
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 2nd
  • Condition Used:Good
  • Pages 1072
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Classics, London
  • Date 2003-04-29
  • Features Bibliography, Index, Maps
  • Bookseller's Inventory # DADAX0140449302
  • ISBN 9780140449303 / 0140449302
  • Weight 1.59 lbs (0.72 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.78 x 5.1 x 1.84 in (19.76 x 12.95 x 4.67 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Italy
  • Library of Congress subjects Storytelling, Allegories
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Summary

In the early summer of the year 1348, as a terrible plague ravages the city, ten charming young Florentines take refuge in country villas to tell each other stories—a hundred stories of love, adventure and surprising twists of fortune which later inspired Chaucer, Keats and Shakespeare. While Dante is a stern moralist, Boccaccio has little time for chastity, pokes fun at crafty, hypocritical clerics and celebrates the power of passion to overcome obstacles and social divisions. Like the Divine Comedy, the Decameron is a towering monument of medieval pre-Renaissance literature, and incorporates certain important elements that are not at once apparent to today's readers. In a new introduction to this revised edition, which also includes additional explanatory notes, maps, bibliography and indexes, Professor McWilliam shows us Boccaccio for what he is—one of the world's greatest masters of vivid and exciting prose fiction.

From the publisher

Giovanni Boccaccio was born in Florence, Italy, in 1313, and he died there in 1375. His life thus coincided with the flowering of the early Renaissance and indeed his closest friend was Petrarch, the other towering literary figure of the period. During his lifetime, Boccaccio was a diplomat, businessman, and international traveler, as well as the creator of numerous works of prose and poetry. Of his achievements, The Decameron, completed sometime between 1350 and 1352, remains his lasting contribution—immensely popular from its original appearance to the present day—to world literature.

From the rear cover

In the early summer of the year 1348, as a terrible plague ravages the city, ten charming young Florentines take refuge in country villas to tell each other stories - a hundred stories of love, adventure and surprising twists of fortune which later inspired Chaucer, Keats and Shakespeare. While Dante is a stern moralist, Boccaccio has little time for chastity, pokes fun at crafty, hypocritical clerics and celebrates the power of passion to overcome obstacles and social divisions. Like the Divine Comedy, the Decameron is a towering monument of medieval pre-Renaissance literature, and incorporates certain important elements that are not at once apparent to today's readers. In a new introduction to this revised edition, which also includes additional explanatory notes, maps, bibliography and indexes, Professor McWilliam shows us Boccaccio for what he is - one of the world's greatest masters of vivid and exciting prose fiction.

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About the author

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) was born in Florence, Italy. His life thus coincided with the flowering of the early Renaissance, and indeed his closest friend was Petrarch, the other towering literary figure of the period. During his lifetime, Boccaccio was a diplomat, businessman, and international traveler, as well as the creator of numerous works of prose and poetry. Of his achievements, The Decameron, completed sometime between 1350 and 1352, remains his lasting contribution to world literature, immensely popular from its original appearance to the present day.

G. H. McWilliam, a former Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, was Professor Emeritus of Italian in the University of Leicester. He translated plays by Italo Svevo, Pirandello, and Betti, as well as poems by Salvatore Quasimodo, and was awarded the Italian government's silver medal for services to Italian culture. He died in 2001.