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= The_Decameron =
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Introduction
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'The Decameron' (; or 'Decamerone' ), subtitled 'Prince Galehaut'
(Old ) and sometimes nicknamed 'l'Umana commedia' ("the Human
comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dante Alighieri's 'Comedy'
"'Divine'"), is a collection of short stories by the 14th-century
Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375). The book is structured
as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young
women and three young men; they shelter in a secluded villa just
outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death, which was
afflicting the city. The epidemic is likely what Boccaccio used for
the basis of the book which was thought to be written between 1348
and 1353. The various tales of love in 'The Decameron' range from the
erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons
also contribute to the mosaic. In addition to its literary value and
widespread influence (for example on Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'), it
provides a document of life at the time. Written in the vernacular of
the Florentine language, it is considered a masterpiece of early
Italian prose.
Title
======================================================================
The book's primary title exemplifies Boccaccio's fondness for Greek
philology: 'Decameron' combines Greek , 'déka' ("ten") and , 'hēméra'
("day") to mean "ten-day [event]", referring to the period in which
the characters of the frame story tell their tales.
'Hexaemeron' ('Six Days', literally 'The Six-Day [Work]') was a
familiar title in Boccaccio's day. It was commonly used for sermons
and treatises commenting on the biblical story of the creation of the
world, which took place in six days (and was therefore referred to as
the Hexaemeron or Six-day work). The tradition goes back to Patristic
literature, notably Ambrose of Milan’s 'Hexaemeron' also known as
'Exameron' (ca. 378 C.E.). In thirteenth-century Italy Bonaventure
still authored 'Collationes in Hexaemeron' (1273, literally 'Talks on
the Six Days') in the same tradition. Exploring the links between the
'Decameron' and hexaemeral literature's exposition of creation usually
structured in six chapters (one for each day), scholarship pointed out
that Boccaccio’s ten narrators intervene following a cataclysmic
outbreak of plague as though they were metaphorically re-creating a
world through their stories, day after day. The mischievous critique
of monastic culture contained in Boccaccio’s book also led some to
wonder whether the erudite title 'Decameron' might not comprise a
parodistic dimension.
Boccaccio's subtitle, 'Prencipe Galeotto', refers to Galehaut, a
fictional knight sometimes called 'haut prince' (high prince) in the
13th-century 'Lancelot-Grail'. Galehaut was a close friend of
Lancelot, but an enemy of King Arthur. When Galehaut learned that
Lancelot loved Arthur's wife, Guinevere, he set aside his own ardor
for Lancelot in order to arrange a meeting between his friend and
Guinevere. At this meeting the Queen first kisses Lancelot, and so
begins their love affair. Through this notorious episode, 'Galeotto'
had become the epitome of the romantic go-between in the Italian
imagination - a Cupid able to bind two hearts. By subtitling his book
'Prencipe Galeotto', Boccaccio signals that he hopes his stories will
bring young lovers together, providing them with an opportunity to use
storytelling as a vehicle of flirtation (as the youths in the
'Decamerons frame story do) and ultimately fall in love. This reading
finds confirmation in a memorable passage from Dante's 'Divine Comedy'
where two lovers explain they have fallen madly in love while reading
the Lancelot-and-Guinevere story to one another, so that, in a sense,
the romance had functioned as their very own Galehaut or "romantic
go-between". The idea was encapsulated in Dante's oft-cited verse:
"'Galeotto fu ’l libro e chi lo scrisse'" ("The book and its author
was our 'Galeotto'", 'Inferno', V, 137), crystallizing at once the
image of Galeotto-as-book and book-as-love-dart. The verse is spoken
in Hell, in the circle of the lustful, by Francesca da Rimini as she
tries to justify her forbidden liaison with her half-brother and
paramour Paolo Malatesta, blaming the Lancelot-and-Guinevere story for
impassioning them to lovemaking.
The description of Galehaut's munificence and savoir-faire amidst this
intrigue impressed Boccaccio. By invoking the name 'Prencipe Galeotto'
in the alternative title to 'Decameron', Boccaccio also alludes to a
sentiment he expresses in the Proem of the 'Decameron' about the aim
of his text: his compassion for women deprived of free speech and
social liberty, confined to their homes and, at times, lovesick. He
contrasts this life with that of the men free to enjoy hunting,
fishing, riding, and falconry.
Frame story
======================================================================
In Italy during the time of the Black Death, a group of seven young
women and three young men flee from plague-ridden Florence to a
deserted villa in the countryside of Fiesole for two weeks. To pass
the evenings, each member of the party tells a story each night,
except for one day per week for chores, and the holy days during which
they do no work at all, resulting in ten nights of storytelling over
the course of two weeks. Thus, by the end of the fortnight they have
told 100 stories.
Each of the ten characters is charged as King or Queen of the company
for one of the ten days in turn. This charge extends to choosing the
theme of the stories for that day, and all but two days have topics
assigned: examples of the power of fortune; examples of the power of
human will; love tales that end tragically; love tales that end
happily; clever replies that save the speaker; tricks that women play
on men; tricks that people play on each other in general; examples of
virtue. Due to his wit, Dioneo, who usually tells the tenth tale each
day, is allowed to select any topic he wishes.
Many commentators have argued that Dioneo expresses the views of
Boccaccio himself. Each day also includes a short introduction and
conclusion to continue the frame of the tales by describing other
daily activities besides story-telling. These framing interludes
frequently include transcriptions of Italian folk songs. The
interactions among tales in a day, or across days, as Boccaccio spins
variations and reversals of previous material, forms a whole and not
just a collection of stories. Recurring plots of the stories include
mocking the lust and greed of the clergy; female lust and ambition on
par with male lust and ambition; tensions in Italian society between
the new wealthy commercial class and noble families; and the perils
and adventures of traveling merchants.
Analysis
======================================================================
Beyond the unity provided by the frame narrative, the 'Decameron'
provides a unity in philosophical outlook. Throughout runs the common
medieval theme of Lady Fortune, and how quickly one can rise and fall
through the external influences of the "Wheel of Fortune". Boccaccio
had been educated in the tradition of Dante's 'Divine Comedy', which
used various levels of allegory to show the connections between the
literal events of the story and the Christian message. However, the
'Decameron' uses Dante's model not to educate the reader but to
satirize this method of learning. The Catholic Church, priests, and
religious belief become the satirical source of comedy throughout.
This was part of a wider historical trend in the aftermath of the
Black Death which saw widespread discontent with the church. Many
details of the 'Decameron' are infused with a medieval sense of
numerological and mystical significance. For example, it is widely
believed that the seven young women are meant to represent the Four
Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude) and
the Three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity). It is
further supposed that the three men represent the classical Greek
tripartite division of the soul (Reason, Spirit, and Appetite, see
Book IV of 'Republic'). Boccaccio himself notes that the names he
gives for these ten characters are in fact pseudonyms chosen as
"appropriate to the qualities of each". The Italian names of the seven
women, in the same (most likely significant) order as given in the
text, are Pampinea, Fiammetta, Filomena, Emilia, Lauretta, Neifile,
and Elissa. The men, in order, are Panfilo, Filostrato, and Dioneo.
Literary sources
======================================================================
Boccaccio borrowed the plots of almost all his stories (just as later
writers borrowed from him). Although he consulted only French, Italian
and Latin sources, some of the tales have their origin in such far-off
lands as India, the Middle East, Spain, and other places. Some were
already centuries old. For example, part of the tale of Andreuccio of
Perugia (Day II, Story 5) originated in 2nd-century Ephesus (in the
Ephesian Tale). Even the description of the central motivating event
of the narrative, the Black Plague (which Boccaccio surely witnessed),
is not original, but is based on a description in the 'Historia gentis
Langobardorum' of Paul the Deacon, who lived in the 8th century.
Boccaccio also drew on Ovid's works as inspiration. He has been called
"the Italian Ovid" because of his writing.
The fact that Boccaccio borrowed the story lines that make up most of
the 'Decameron' does not mean he mechanically reproduced them. Most of
the stories take place in the 14th century and have been sufficiently
updated to the author's time that a reader may not know that they had
been written centuries earlier or in a foreign culture. Also,
Boccaccio often combined two or more unrelated tales into one (such as
in II, 2 and VII, 7).
Moreover, many of the characters actually existed, such as Giotto di
Bondone, Guido Cavalcanti, Saladin, and King William II of Sicily.
Scholars have even been able to verify the existence of less famous
characters, such as the tricksters Bruno and Buffalmacco and their
victim Calandrino. Still other fictional characters are based on real
people, such as the Madonna Fiordaliso from tale II, 5, who is derived
from a Madonna Flora who lived in the red light district of Naples.
Boccaccio often intentionally muddled historical (II, 3) and
geographical (V, 2) facts for his narrative purposes. Within the tales
of the 'Decameron', the principal characters are usually developed
through their dialogue and actions, so that by the end of the story
they seem real and their actions logical given their context.
Another of Boccaccio's frequent techniques was to make already
existing tales more complex. A clear example of this is in tale IX, 6,
which was also used by Chaucer in his "The Reeve's Tale", which more
closely follows the original French source than does Boccaccio's
version. In the Italian version, the host's wife and the two young
male visitors occupy all three beds and she also creates an
explanation of the happenings of the evening. Both elements are
Boccaccio's invention and make for a more complex version than either
Chaucer's version or the French source (a fabliau by Jean de Boves).
Papal censorship
======================================================================
Despite its enduring popularity, the 'Decameron''s overtly
anti-clerical stances frequently brought the work into conflict with
the Catholic Church. The first instance occurred in 1497 when the
Dominican Friar Girolamo Savonarola incited a bonfire of 'sinful' art
and literature in the centre of Florence known later as the "Bonfire
of the Vanities". The 'Decameron' was among the works known to have
been burned that day.
More official clerical challenges would follow upon the creation of
the 'Index Librorum Prohibitorum.' Instituted by Pope Paul IV in 1559,
the 'Index' was a list of texts that were officially anathema to the
Catholic Church; Boccaccio's 'Decameron' was among the original texts
included. Despite this, the book continued to circulate and grow in
popularity, prompting Gregory XIII to commission a revised edition in
1573 in which the clergymen were replaced with secular people. Even
this would prove to be too immoral for Sixtus V who commissioned
another revision during his time as cardinal resulting in the 1582
edition by Salviati.
Translations into English
======================================================================
The 'Decameron's' individual tales were translated into English early
on (such as poet William Walter's 1525 'Here begynneth y[e] hystory of
Tytus & Gesyppus translated out of Latyn into Englysshe by Wyllyam
Walter, somtyme seruaunte to Syr Henry Marney', a translation of tale
X.viii), or served as source material for English authors such as
Chaucer to rework. The table below lists all attempts at a complete
English translation of the book. The information on pre-1971
translations is compiled from the G. H. McWilliam's introduction to
his own 1971 translation.
Incomplete
============
Year !! Translator !! Omissions !! Comments !Full text
1620 By "I. F.", attributed to John Florio Omits the 'Proemio'
and 'Conclusione dell’autore'. Replaces tale III.x with an innocuous
tale taken from François de Belleforest’s “Histoires tragiques”,
concluding that it “was commended by all the company, ... because it
was free from all folly and obscoeneness.” Tale IX.x is also modified,
while tale V.x loses its homosexual innuendo. “Magnificent specimen
of Jacobean prose, [but] its high-handed treatment of the original
text produces a number of shortcomings” says G. H. McWilliam,
translator of the 1971 Penguin edition (see below). Based not on
Boccaccio's Italian original, but on Antoine Le Maçon’s 1545 French
translation and Lionardo Salviati's 1582 Italian edition which
replaced ‘offensive’ words, sentences or sections with asterisks or
altered text (in a different font). The 1940 Heritage Press edition of
this 1620 translation restores the two omitted tales by inserting
anonymously translated modern English versions.
|[
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/52617/pg52617-images.html Day 1
to 5] [
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/52618/pg52618-images.html
Day 6 to 10]
1702 Anonymous, attributed to John Savage Omits 'Proemio' and
'Conclusione dell’autore'. Replaces tale III.x with the tale contained
within the Introduction to the Fourth Day. Tale IX.x is bowdlerised,
but possibly because the translator was working from faulty sources,
rather than deliberately. ---
1741 Anonymous, posthumously identified as Dr. Charles Balguy
Omits 'Proemio' and 'Conclusione dell’autore'. Explicitly omits tales
III.x and IX.x, and removed the homosexual innuendo in tale V.x:
“Boccace is so licentious in many places, that it requires some
management to preserve his wit and humour, and render him tolerably
decent. This I have attempted with the loss of two novels, which I
judged incapable of such treatment; and am apprehensive, it may still
be thought by some people, that I have rather omitted too little, than
too much.” Reissued several times with small or large modifications,
sometimes without acknowledgement of the original translator. The 1804
reissue makes further expurgations. The 1822 reissue adds half-hearted
renditions of III.x and IX.x, retaining the more objectionable
passages in the original Italian, with a footnote to III.x that it is
“impossible to render ... into tolerable English”, and giving
Mirabeau’s French translation instead. The 1872 reissue is similar,
but makes translation errors in parts of IX.x. The 1895 reissue
(introduced by Alfred Wallis), in four volumes, cites Mr. S. W. Orson
as making up for the omissions of the 1741 original, although part of
III.x is given in Antoine Le Maçon’s French translation, belying the
claim that it is a complete English translation, and IX.x is modified,
replacing Boccaccio’s direct statements with innuendo.
1855 W. K. Kelly Omits 'Proemio' and 'Conclusione dell’autore'.
Includes tales III.x and IX.x, claiming to be "COMPLETE, although a
few passages are in French or Italian", but as in 1822, leaves parts
of III.x in the original Italian with a French translation in a
footnote, and omits several key sentences entirely from IX.x. ---
1896 Anonymous Part of tale III.x again given in French, without
footnote or explanation. Tale IX.x translated anew, but Boccaccio's
phrase "l’umido radicale" is rendered "the humid radical" rather than
"the moist root". Falsely claims to be a "New Translation from the
Italian" and the "First complete English Edition", when it is only a
reworking of earlier versions with the addition of what McWilliam
calls "vulgarly erotic overtones" in some stories.
1903 James Macmullen Rigg Once more, part of tale III.x is left
in the original Italian with a footnote “No apology is needed for
leaving, in accordance with precedent, the subsequent detail
untranslated”. Edward Hutton]].
|[
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3726/pg3726-images.html Volume
I] [
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13102/pg13102-images.html
VolumeII]
1930 Frances Winwar Omits the 'Proemio'. Introduction by Burton
Rascoe. First American translation, and first English-language
translation by a woman. "Fairly accurate and eminently readable, [but]
fails to do justice to those more ornate and rhetorical passages" says
McWilliam. Originally issued in expensive 2-volume set by the Limited
Editions Club of New York City, and in cheaper general circulation
edition only in 1938.
Complete
==========
Year !! Translator !! Publishers and Comments !Full text
1886 John Payne The first truly complete translation in English,
with copious footnotes to explain Boccaccio's double-entendres and
other references. Introduction by Sir Walter Raleigh. Published by the
Villon Society by private subscription for private circulation. Stands
and falls on its "splendidly scrupulous but curiously archaic ...
sonorous and self-conscious Pre-Raphaelite vocabulary" according to
McWilliam, who gives as an example from tale III.x: "Certes, father
mine, this same devil must be an ill thing and an enemy in very deed
of God, for that it irketh hell itself, let be otherwhat, when he is
put back therein." 1925 Edition by Horace Liveright Inc. US, then
reprinted in Oct 1928, Dec 1928, April 1929, Sept 1929, Feb 1930.
1930. Reissued in the Modern Library, 1931. Updated editions have
been published in 1982, edited by Charles S. Singleton, and in 2004,
edited by Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin.
|[
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23700/23700-h/23700-h.htm The
Project Gutenberg eBook of The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio]
1930 Richard Aldington Like Winwar, first issued in expensive and
lavishly illustrated edition. "Littered with schoolboy errors ...
plain and threadbare, so that anyone reading it might be forgiven for
thinking that Boccaccio was a kind of sub-standard fourteenth-century
Somerset Maugham" says McWilliam.
1972, 1995 George Henry McWilliam The first translation into
contemporary English, intended for general circulation. Penguin
Classics edition. The second edition (1995) includes a 150-page
detailed explanation of the historical, linguistic, and nuanced
reasoning behind the new translation. Its in-depth study exemplifies
the care and consideration given to the original text and meaning. The
volume includes a biography of the author and a detailed history of
the book's composition and setting.
1977 Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa W. W. Norton & Company
1993 Guido Waldman Oxford University Press.
2008 J. G. Nichols Everyman's Library.and Vintage Classics
2013 Wayne A. Rebhorn W. W. Norton & Company. 'Publishers
Weekly' called Rebhorn's translation "strikingly modern" and praised
its "accessibility". In an interview with 'The Wall Street Journal'
Rebhorn stated that he started translating the work in 2006 after
deciding that the translations he was using in his classroom needed
improvement. Rebhorn cited errors in the 1977 translation as one of
the reasons for the new translation. Peter Bondanella, one of the
translators of the 1977 edition, stated that new translations build on
previous ones and that the error cited would be corrected in future
editions of his translation.
Notable early translations
======================================================================
It can be generally said that Petrarch's version in 'Rerum senilium
libri' XVII, 3, included in a letter he wrote to his friend Boccaccio,
was to serve as a source for all the many versions that circulated
around Europe, including the translations of the very 'Decameron' into
Catalan (first recorded translation into a foreign language,
anonymously hand-written in Sant Cugat in 1429; later retranslated by
Bernat Metge), French and Spanish.
The famous first tale (I, 1) of the notorious Ser Ciappelletto was
later translated into Latin by Olimpia Fulvia Morata and translated
again by Voltaire.
Theatre
=========
* William Shakespeare's 1605 play 'All's Well That Ends Well' is based
on tale III, 9. Shakespeare probably first read a French translation
of the tale in William Painter's 'Palace of Pleasure'.
* Posthumus's wager on Imogen's chastity in 'Cymbeline' was taken by
Shakespeare from an English translation of a 15th-century German tale,
"Frederyke of Jennen", whose basic plot came from tale II, 9.
* Lope de Vega adapted at least twelve stories from the 'Decameron'
for the theatre, including:
** 'El ejemplo de casadas y prueba de la paciencia', based on tale X,
10, which was by far the most popular story of the 'Decameron' during
the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries
** 'Discreta enamorada', based on tale III, 3
** 'El ruiseñor de Sevilla' ('They're Not All Nightingales'), based on
parts of V, 4
* Molière's 1661 play 'L'école des maris' is based on tale III, 3.
* Molière borrowed from tale VII, 4 in his play 'George Dandin ou le
Mari confondu' ('The Confounded Husband'). In both stories the husband
is convinced that he has accidentally caused his wife's suicide.
* Thomas Middleton's play 'The Widow' is based on tales II, 2 and III,
3.
* The ring parable from tale I, 3 is at the heart of Gotthold Ephraim
Lessing's 1779 play 'Nathan the Wise'.
* Alfred, Lord Tennyson, used tale V, 9 for his 1879 play 'The
Falcon'.
Prose works
=============
* Martin Luther retells tale I, 2, in which a Jew converts to
Catholicism after visiting Rome and seeing the corruption of the
Catholic hierarchy. However, in Luther's version (found in his
"Table-talk #1899"), Luther and Philipp Melanchthon try to dissuade
the Jew from visiting Rome.
* The story of Griselda (X, 10) was also the basis for the 1694 verse
novel ' by Charles Perrault, later included in his 1697 collection
'Histoires ou contes du temps passé'.
* Jonathan Swift used tale I, 3 for his first major published work, 'A
Tale of a Tub' (1704).
Poetry
========
* The tale of patient Griselda (X, 10) was translated into Latin by
Petrarch.
* Chaucer's "The Clerk's Tale" retells the story of Griselda (X, 10),
crediting the story to "Fraunceys Petrak, the lauriat poete." While
this proves that Chaucer knew of Petrarch's Latin version, it is
unclear whether Chaucer had himself read Boccaccio's Italian,
Petrarch's Latin, or a later translation of Petrarch (such as any of
several French translations available in Chaucer's day).
* John Keats borrowed the tale of Lisabetta and her pot of basil (IV,
5) for his poem, 'Isabella, or the Pot of Basil'.
* At his death Percy Bysshe Shelley had left a fragment of a poem
entitled "Ginevra", which he took from the first volume of an Italian
book called 'L'Osservatore Fiorentino'. The plot of that book was in
turn taken from tale X, 4.
* Henry Wadsworth Longfellow adapted tale V, 9 for the poem "The
Falcon of Ser Federigo", included in his 1863 collection 'Tales of a
Wayside Inn'.
Songs
=======
* Tale IV, 1 was the basis for Child ballad 269, "Lady Diamond".
Opera
=======
* The Venetian writer Apostolo Zeno wrote a libretto named 'Griselda'
in 1701, based in part on tale X, 10, and in part on Lope de Vega's
theatrical adaptation of it, 'El ejemplo de casadas y prueba de la
paciencia'. Various composers wrote music for the libretto, including
Carlo Francesco Pollarolo ('Griselda', 1701), Tomaso Albinoni
('Griselda', 1703), Antonio Maria Bononcini ('Griselda', 1718),
Alessandro Scarlatti ('Griselda', 1721), Giovanni Bononcini
('Griselda', 1722) and Antonio Vivaldi ('Griselda', 1735).
* Giuseppe Petrosinelli in his libretto for Domenico Cimarosa's comic
opera 'The Italian Girl in London' uses the story of the heliotrope
(bloodstone) in tale VIII, 3.
Film and television
=====================
* 'Decameron Nights' (1924) was based on three of the tales.
* 'Decameron Nights' (1953) was based on three of the tales and
starred Louis Jourdan as Boccaccio.
* 'Archanděl Gabriel a paní Husa' (1965, ) is a puppet film by Jiří
Trnka based on story IV, 2.
* 'The Decameron' (1971) by Pier Paolo Pasolini is an anthology film
including nine of the stories.
* 'Virgin Territory' (2007) is a romantic comedy film based on 'The
Decameron' framing story.
* 'Wondrous Boccaccio' (2015) is loosely based on four of the tales.
* 'The Little Hours' (2017) adapts tales III, 1 and III, 2.
* 'The Decameron' (2024) is a Netflix miniseries inspired by the
setting and characters, with nods to the stories.
Wrongly considered to be adaptations
======================================
* Chaucer's "The Franklin's Tale" shares its plot with tale X, 5,
although this is not due to a direct borrowing from Boccaccio. Rather,
both authors used a common French source.
* The motif of the three trunks in 'The Merchant of Venice' by
Shakespeare is found in tale X, 1. However, both Shakespeare and
Boccaccio probably came upon the tale in 'Gesta Romanorum'.
Collections emulating the ''Decameron''
======================================================================
* Marguerite de Navarre's 'Heptaméron' is heavily based on the
'Decameron'.
* Christoph Martin Wieland's set of six novellas, 'Das Hexameron von
Rosenhain', is based on the structure of the 'Decameron'.
* In 2020 State Theatre Company of South Australia and ActNow Theatre
created a project called 'Decameron 2.0' in response to the COVID-19
crisis, which involved 10 writers creating 10 stories each over 10
weeks, loosely connected to themes in the 'Decameron'.
* Also in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the July 12, 2020, issue
of 'The New York Times Magazine' featured a short story collection
entitled 'The Decameron Project', with new writings from contemporary
authors including Margaret Atwood, and illustrations by Sophy
Hollington and other artists.
*Published in 2021, 'The San Diego Decameron Project Anthology'
features 100 stories from 100 San Diegan authors based loosely around
the theme of the COVID-19 pandemic, in tribute to the 'Decameron'. The
collection is presented by Write Out Loud, San Diego Public Library,
La Jolla Historical Society, and San Diego Writers Ink.
Boccaccio's drawings
======================================================================
Since the 'Decameron' was very popular among contemporaries,
especially merchants, many manuscripts of it survive. The Italian
philologist Vittore Branca did a comprehensive survey of them and
identified a few copied under Boccaccio's supervision; some have notes
written in Boccaccio's hand. Two in particular have elaborate
drawings, probably done by Boccaccio himself. Since these manuscripts
were widely circulated, Branca thought that they influenced all
subsequent illustrations. In 1962 Branca identified Codex Hamilton 90,
in Berlin's Staatsbibliothek, as an autograph belonging to Boccaccio's
latter years.
See also
======================================================================
* 'Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles'
* 'One Thousand and One Nights'
* 'The Masque of the Red Death'
* 'The Plague' (novel)
* Summary of Decameron novellas
External links
======================================================================
* [
https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/ 'Decameron'
Web], from Brown University
* [
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/boccacio2.asp 'The
Decameron'] - Introduction from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
*
[
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/collections/paintings/gallery4/enchantedgarden.aspx
'The Enchanted Garden'], a painting by John William Waterhouse
*
(Rigg translation)
(Rigg translation)
(Payne translation)
*
[
http://digilander.libero.it/il_boccaccio/translate_english/index.html
'Decameron'] - English and Italian text for a direct comparison
*
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decameron
