Decameron

A new version of John Payne's Victorian translation, with an Introduction by Cormac O Cuilleanain
1348. The Black Death is sweeping through Europe. In Florence, plague has carried off one hundred thousand people. In their Tuscan villas, seven young women and three young men tell tales to recreate the world they have lost, weaving a rich tapestry of comedy, tragedy, ribaldry and farce.
Boccaccio's Decameron recasts the storytelling heritage of the ancient and medieval worlds into perennial forms that inspired writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare down to our own day. Boccaccio makes the incredible believable, with detail so sharp we can look straight into the lives of people who lived six hundred years ago. His Decameron hovers between the fading glories of an aristocratic past - the Crusades, the Angevins, the courts of France, the legendary East - and the colourful squalor of contemporary life, where wives deceive husbands, friars and monks pursue fleshly ends, and natural instincts fight for satisfaction. Here are love and jealousy, passion and pride - and a shrewd calculation of profit and loss which heralds the rise of a dynamic merchant class. These stories show us early capitalism during a moment of crisis and revelation.

Book Description
1348. The Black Death is sweeping through Europe. In Florence, plague has carried off one hundred thousand people. In their Tuscan villas, seven young women and three young men tell tales to recreate the world they have lost, weaving a rich tapestry of comedy, tragedy, ribaldry and farce.

Boccaccio's Decameron recasts the storystelling heritage of the ancient and medieval worlds into perennial forms that inspired writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare down to our own day. Boccaccio makes the incredible believable, with detail so sharp we can look straight into the lives of people who lived six hundred years ago. His Decameron hovers between the fading glories of an aristocratic past - the Crusades, the Angevins, the courts of France, the legendary East - and the colourful squalor of contemporary life, where wives deceive husbands, friars and monks pursue fleshly ends, and natural instincts fight for satisfaction. Here are love and jealousy, passion and pride - and a shrewd calculation of profit and loss which heralds the rise of a dynamic merchant class. These stories show us early capitalism during a moment of crisis and revelation.

Book Dimension :
length: (cm)17.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)11.1

The Editior's Introduction
The Author's Preface
THE FIRST DAY:No set theme
Introduction
1 Saint Ciappelletto's Last Confession
2 Abraham goes to Rome
3 Saladin and the Jew
4 The monk,the abbot and the girl
5 The King of France and the Marquise
6 The simple man and the Inquisitor
7 Bergamino cures Can Grande ofavarice
8 Guglielmo Borsiere shames Erminio dei Grimaldi
9 The King of Cyprus is stung into action
10 Alberto of Bologna and the young lady Conclusion
THE SECOND DAY:Joyful endings beyond all hopes
1 Martellino pretends to be crippled
2 Rinaldo d'Asti is lodged for the night
3 Alessandro and the King's daughter
4 Landolfo Rufolo's shipwreck
5 Andreuccio goes to Naples
6 Madama Beritola marooned
……
THE THIRD DAY:Desires fulfilled,losses recovered
THE FOUR DAY:Those whose loves had unhappy endings
THE SIXTH DAY:The art of the sharp reply
THE SEVENTH DAY:The tricks women play on their husbands
THE EIGHTH DAY:Tricks by women on men,men on women,men on men
THE NINTH DAY :No set theme
THE TENTH DAY:Tales of generosity and magnificence
The Author's Conclusion