The Decameron

Author: Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)
Written: c. 1350-53
Translator: G. H. McWilliam
Publisher: Penguin Books (1995 Second Edition)
Bought from: NoQ Store


Introduction

Giovanni Boccaccio is an Italian author and poet. The Decameron is his most famous work.

What is it about?

The Decameron is a collection of 100 stories told by 7 young ladies and 3 young men against the backdrop of a plague-ravaged Florence in 1348. Every member of the party tells a story each day for ten days to amuse themselves and while the afternoon away.

Many of the stories contain bawdy or erotic elements. The Roman Catholic Church and its clergy and beliefs are often subject to mockery and ridicule.

Stories in The Decameron have influenced later writers from Chaucer to Shakespeare.


What about the book?

There is an extensive introduction which covers Boccaccio’s life and the Italian world he lived in and useful end notes. McWilliam writes in accessible English.


Finally

In the back cover, Penguin Books describes The Decameron as a towering monument of European literature and a masterpice of imaginative narrative. To me, however, it is more like one of the films in the Carry On series. The bawdy stories are the most memorable ones. And the bawdy lines, such as “put the Devil back in Hell”, are the most memorable ones. But I find the book tiring to read and I have not finished reading it. I do not think I ever will. So, overall, a major disappointment.