Wayne A. Rebhorn

Nice selection of tales from Boccaccio's classic work--I really only wanted to get a taste anyway. I especially liked the stories about Saladin and the three rings; the monk Rustico and putting the Devil in Hell; Isabetta and the Pot of Basil (the basis for Keats' poem); Peronella and the Jar (clearly taken directly from Apuleius); and the Abbess awaking in the dark. The Norton edition has a lot of contemporary and modern criticism, including a final look at the overall meaning of the work, which I agree seems to come down to love leading to fame or earthly glory.… (mehr)

How Giovanni Boccaccio avoided a horrible death at the hands of the Church is amazing. In this selection of 21 of the 100 stories that comprise the Decameron, Boccaccio puts clergymen in scenes of debauchery that would amaze even a modern reader. In one of the excellent pieces of contemporary criticism included in this volume, it is pointed out that the Church was fairly tolerant of non-heretical criticism until the Reformation, whereupon the Decameron was promptly banned. Boccaccio himself became ashamed of the work later in life and would have undoubtedly had all copies burned if possible. Thank goodness he wasn't able to do that because The Decameron is apparently considered one of the most influential early renaissance works (maybe even influencing Chaucer to write The Canterbury Tales, for example).

I don't want this review to get flagged, so I won't go into any detail about the stories. Suffice it to say that sex, greed, and general bawdiness, often involving clergy and even cloistered nuns are featured prominently in the stories, which Boccaccio claims that he wrote for the entertainment of young ladies.

Pretty good stuff, but not for the faint of heart.… (mehr)