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"The first and definitive diplomatic edition of Boccaccio's holograph MS... From a strictly textual viewpoint, all other editions of The Decameron are now superseded." -- Reference Books in the Humanities
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Book Description
The Decameron is structured in a frame narrative, or frame tale. Boccaccio begins with a description of the Black Death and a group of seven women and three men who flee from plague-ridden Florence to a villa in the (then) countryside of Fiesole for two weeks. To pass the time, each member of the party tells one story for each one of the nights spent at the villa. Although fourteen days pass, two days each week are set aside; one day for chores and one holy day during which no work is done. In this manner, 100 stories are told by the end of the two weeks
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Wordsworth Classics are easy to miss and even easier to undervalue. They usually reproduce texts that are out of copyright, which often also means texts that have been superseded by more recently edited texts with better introductions. This volume is different. The text is a revised version of John Payne's 1886 translation of the Decameron. It has exerted a certain fascination amongst Boccaccio scholars: Charles Singleton, the great American medievalist, published an updated version of Payne's translation in 1982 with the University of California Press. But reviews were not entirely positive and complained that for an 'updating' it did not really do enough updating. This Wordsworth edition, edited by Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin (Trinity College Dublin), presents a fresh updating of the text and provides an excellent introduction to the work, its major themes, further reading, an account of the work's 'afterlife', with an explanation of exactly how he went about the process of updating Payne's translation.
The result is highly readable and very enjoyable, and provides a delicately nuanced text that sounds both familiar and unfamiliar at once. Ó Cuilleanáin has expunged what might be described as the 'archaisms' but has managed to retain the spirit and wit in Payne's formality.
I suppose the text will continue to be viewed with a certain novelty value and probably will not become a teaching text, for example, or cited in academic articles. This is a pity because as a translation it has much to recommend itself. As for the introduction, I'd set it as required reading for any undergraduate class on Boccaccio.
The result is highly readable and very enjoyable, and provides a delicately nuanced text that sounds both familiar and unfamiliar at once. Ó Cuilleanáin has expunged what might be described as the 'archaisms' but has managed to retain the spirit and wit in Payne's formality.
I suppose the text will continue to be viewed with a certain novelty value and probably will not become a teaching text, for example, or cited in academic articles. This is a pity because as a translation it has much to recommend itself. As for the introduction, I'd set it as required reading for any undergraduate class on Boccaccio.
Format:Paperback
Bit of a classic this, easy to read. This is my third copy, the other two disappeared into friends collections. Never mind, I'm sure I may have some of these.
1 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
The Decameron (mobi) (Penguin Classics)
This time I was on guard when I looked at a Mobile Reference edition. I examined the sample carefully and compared it with the Penguin Classics edition. This is NOT as stated. This is at least the third time I have found this firm mis-stating it wares.I am not buying it.
This time I was on guard when I looked at a Mobile Reference edition. I examined the sample carefully and compared it with the Penguin Classics edition. This is NOT as stated. This is at least the third time I have found this firm mis-stating it wares.I am not buying it.
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