"The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio" by Giovanni Boccaccio (translated by John Payne). Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
"The Decameron (Day 6 to Day 10)" by Giovanni Boccaccio (translated by John Florio). Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
Written in the middle of the 14th century as the Bubonic Plague decimated the population of Europe, “The Decameron” is a satirical and allegorical collection of stories by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio. Constructed as a series of “frame stories,” or stories within a story, the narrative follows seven young women and three young men who take refuge in a secluded villa outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death. During ten evenings of their stay, each of travelers takes turns as storyteller to pass the time. Their stories relate tales of love, both happy and tragic, examples of the power of fortune and human will, and exhibitions of virtue, cleverness, and trickery. Boccaccio’s work is not only important for its superb literary quality but for its examination of the changing cultural values that defined the transition from medieval times into the renaissance. The virtues of intelligence and sophistication of the increasingly urbanized and mercantilist Europe are shown as superior to the relative simplicity and piousness of the feudal system. More than the sum of its parts, “The Decameron” is a milestone in the history of European literature, an influential and enduring masterpiece. This edition is translated with an introduction by J. M. Rigg.
Written in the middle of the 14th century as the Bubonic Plague decimated the population of Europe, «The Decameron» is a satirically allegorical collection of stories by the Italian author Boccaccio. The refined frame narrative of this work allows for ten Florentine women and men to flee the city and take refuge in a country villa of Italy. In the ten days they are to stay, each of them is to tell a story a day, the themes of which are determined by the elected king or queen for that day. Most of the 100 tales are those of love, from erotic to tragic to rather surprising, portraying people of all social stations with a full spectrum of human reactions. More than the sum of its parts, «The Decameron» has inspired countless works of art, and later writers, such as Chaucer, have been influenced by his tales of fate, desire, crisis, and adventure. A milestone in the history of European literature, this imaginative narrative is an enduring masterpiece.