The Decameron

Name: The Decameron
Price: 27.95 AUD
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ISBN: 9780393350265

Giovanni Boccaccio, Wayne A. Rebhorn (University of Texas at Austin)

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English

Norton
09 January 2015

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Classic fiction (pre c 1945); Short stories

The year is 1348. The Black Death has begun to ravage Europe. Ten young Florentines-seven women and three men-escape the plague-infested city and retreat to the countryside around Fiesole. At their leisure in this isolated and bucolic setting, they spend ten days telling each other stories-tales of romance, tragedy, comedy, and farce-one hundred in all. The result, called by one critic ""the greatest short story collection of all time"" (Leonard Barkan, Princeton University) is a rich and entertaining celebration of the medley of medieval life.

Witty, earthy, and filled with bawdy irreverence, the one hundred stories of The Decameron offer more than simple escapism; they are also a life-affirming balm for trying times. The Decameron is a joyously comic book that has earned its place in world literature not just because it makes us laugh, but more importantly because it shows us how essential laughter is to the human condition.

Published on the 700th anniversary of Boccaccio's birth, Wayne A. Rebhorn's new translation of The Decameron introduces a generation of readers to this ""rich late-medieval feast"" in a ""lively, contemporary, American-inflected English"" (Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University) even as it retains the distinctly medieval flavor of Boccaccio's rhetorically expressive prose.

An extensive introduction provides useful details about Boccaccio's historical and cultural milieu, the themes and particularities of the text, and the lines of influence flowing into and out of this towering monument of world literature.

By: Giovanni Boccaccio
Translated by: Wayne A. Rebhorn (University of Texas at Austin)
Imprint: Norton
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 208mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 43mm
Weight: 745g
ISBN: 9780393350265
ISBN 10: 0393350266
Pages: 1024
Publication Date: 09 January 2015
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for The Decameron

An inexhaustibly rich late-medieval feast... a celebration of the sheer pleasure of being alive. -- Stephen Greenblatt ...fluent and elegant new translation...His [Rebhorn's] introduction and notes are all we could wish for and the achievement genuinely honours its original. -- Jonathan Keates - The Telegraph