Cantitate/Preț
Produs
Total produse
Vezi coșul
The Decameron: Selected Tales de Giovanni Boccaccio

The Decameron: Selected Tales

Autor Giovanni Boccaccio Editat de Don Beecher, Massimo Ciavolella
en Limba Engleză Paperback – 26 iul 2017

Descoperim în Decameron o lectură stratificată, a cărei cadență oglindește ritmul vieții însăși: uneori alertă și plină de umor picant, alteori contemplativă și gravă. Această ediție de la WORDSWORTH EDITIONS LTD ne invită să parcurgem un mozaic narativ născut dintr-o criză profundă — epidemia de ciumă din 1348. Apreciem modul în care Giovanni Boccaccio folosește izolarea celor zece tineri într-o vilă din Fiesole nu ca pe un spațiu al disperării, ci ca pe unul al reconstrucției prin cuvânt.

În tradiția volumului The Arabian Nights (menționat în secțiunea de achiziții comune), Decameron reimaginează conceptul de povestire în ramă, dar îl ancorează într-un realism psihologic surprinzător pentru secolul al XIV-lea. Dacă O mie și una de nopți mizează pe fantastic și amânarea morții, Giovanni Boccaccio explorează condiția umană în toată complexitatea ei terestră: viclenia, dorința și noblețea spiritului. Putem afirma că, spre deosebire de alte lucrări ale sale, precum Genealogy of the Pagan Gods, unde autorul este preocupat de sinteza mitologică erudită, aici vocea sa devine vibrantă, vernaculară și profund empatică.

Structura cărții este riguros organizată pe parcursul a zece zile, fiecare fiind guvernată de un „rege” sau o „regină” care stabilește tema discuțiilor. De exemplu, în ziua a cincea, sub domnia Fiammettei, urmărim cum iubirea triumfă în fața vicisitudinilor, oferind o progresie de la suferință la împlinire. De la farsa cinică a lui Ser Cepperello până la sacrificiul emoționant al șoimului lui Federigo degli Alberighi, textul rămâne un reper al literaturii universale prin capacitatea de a transforma anecdota în observație socială fină.

Citește tot Restrânge

Preț: 16023 lei

Puncte Express: 240
Paperback (24) de la 4777 lei
Hardback (9) de la 11578 lei

Carte disponibilă

Livrare economică 11-25 iunie

 Adaugă în coș

Wish list
Gift list
Am citit!
Adaugă în listă

Specificații

ISBN-13: 9781554813001
ISBN-10: 155481300X
Pagini: 340
Ilustrații: 12
Dimensiuni: 140 x 216 x 17 mm
Greutate: 0.44 kg
Editura: BROADVIEW PR
Colecția Broadview Press
Locul publicării:Peterborough, Canada

De ce să citești această carte

Recomandăm această ediție pentru oricine dorește să exploreze bazele prozei moderne. Cititorul câștigă o perspectivă fascinantă asupra rezilienței umane prin artă, descoperind că temele iubirii, păcălelii și onoarei sunt universale. Este o achiziție valoroasă pentru colecționarii de literatură clasică, oferind nu doar povești captivante, ci și un document istoric despre spiritul liber al Florenței medievale.

Despre autor

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) a fost un scriitor și poet italian, figură centrală a umanismului renascentist și prieten apropiat al lui Petrarca. Spre deosebire de contemporanii săi care utilizau modele rigide, Boccaccio a inovat prin dialoguri realiste și o atenție deosebită acordată psihologiei personajelor. Opera sa monumentală, Decameron, scrisă în urma marii epidemii care i-a răpit familia, a definit genul nuvelei și a influențat decisiv cursul literaturii europene, fiind un pionier al scrierii în limba italiană vernaculară.

Descriere

This edition presents 33 of the 100 tales, with at least two from each of the ten days of storytelling. Boccaccio’s general introduction and conclusion to the work are also included, as are the introduction and conclusion to the first day; the reader is thus provided with a real sense of the Decameron’s framing narrative. Extensive explanatory notes are provided, and the volume is prefaced by a concise but wide-ranging introduction to Boccaccio’s life and times, as well as to the Decameron itself. A unique selection of contextual materials concludes the volume.

Recenzii

This edition presents 33 of the 100 tales, with at least two from each of the ten days of storytelling. Boccaccio’s general introduction and conclusion to the work are also included, as are the introduction and conclusion to the first day; the reader is thus provided with a real sense of the Decameron’s framing narrative. Extensive explanatory notes are provided, and the volume is prefaced by a concise but wide-ranging introduction to Boccaccio’s life and times, as well as to the Decameron itself. A unique selection of contextual materials concludes the volume.

“Furnished with an engaging selection of tales, a formidable apparatus of primary texts and reproductions [from the] visual arts, this is an ideal text for a course in English on Boccaccio’s Decameron. The translators have struck an enviable balance between the colloquial valences of the dialogue and the more formal moments of its register, all while untangling the complex syntax that can be daunting to the non-specialist….This is a Decameron that is accessible and comprehensible, inviting the general reader into its rich narrative world.” — Kristina M. Olson, George Mason University
“Boccaccio… is unsurpassed in the illuminating perspective from which he explores the variety of dramas of his characters in their day to day interactions,… [and this] rendition of the Decameron is extraordinary: it breathes fresh life into this classic of world literature.” — Giuseppe Mazzotta, Sterling Professor in the Humanities for Italian, Yale University
“The translators have provided a smart and engaging selection of the best tales of the Decameron. Their lively prose translation successfully captures the oral scene of storytelling that is central to the book while still attending to important specifics of Boccaccio’s language. A carefully conceived collection of secondary readings completes this volume, which will allow readers to enjoy Boccaccio’s masterpiece from a variety of perspectives.” — Michael Sherberg, Washington University

Cuprins

Acknowledgments
Introduction
from The Decameron
  • The Author’s Preface
    Introduction to the First Day
    The First Day [on open topics]
    • I. Story 1: Cepparello’s False Confession
      I. Story 2: The Jew who Sees Rome and Converts
      I. Story 3: Melchisedech and the Tale of the Three Rings
      I. Story 5: The King of France and the Banquet of Hens
      I. Story 10: Master Alberto Shames the Woman who Refuses his Love
  • Conclusion to the First Day
  • The Second Day [about those who, after enduring many misfortunes, find happiness]
    • II. Story 5: Andreuccio’s Three Misadventures in Naples
      II. Story 7: The Sultan’s Daughter Sleeps with Nine Men and Returns a Virgin
  • The Third Day [about those who, through clever thinking, achieve their goals or recover things lost]
    • III. Story 1: Masetto becomes Gardener to a Convent
      III. Story 6: Ricciardo sends a Jealous Wife to the Baths to catch her Husband
      III. Story 8: Ferondo visits Purgatory
      III. Story 9: Giletta of Narbonne
      III. Story 10: Alibech and Rustico put the Devil back into Hell
  • The Fourth Day [about lovers who come to misery]
    • Introduction
      IV. Story 1: Tancredi, Ghismunda, and her Lover’s Heart
      IV. Story 2: Frate Alberto as the Angel Gabriel
      IV. Story 5: Lisabetta and the Pot of Basil
      IV. Story 8: The Broken Hearts of Girolamo and Salvestra
  • The Fifth Day [about lovers who, after great trials and misfortunes, at last find happiness]
    • V. Story 1: Cimone and Lisimaco Abduct their Brides
      V. Story 4: The Lovers, the Balcony, and the Nightingale
  • The Sixth Day [about those who, through a quick retort or witty quip, escape danger, loss, or shame]
    • VI. Story 1: Madonna Oretta and the Story Ride
      VI. Story 4: Chichibio and the One-legged Bird
      VI. Story 7: Donna Filippa Confronts the Adultery Laws
      VI. Story 9: Guido Cavalcanti’s Witty Escape
  • The Seventh Day [about the tricks women play on their husbands whether for love or self-protection and escape]
    • VII. Story 2: Peronella’s Lover and the Barrel
      VII. Story 6: A Quick-Thinking Adulteress
  • The Eighth Day [about tricks that women play on men, men play on women, or men play on other men]
    • VIII. Story 3: Calendrino and the Heliotrope Stone
      VIII. Story 7: The Scholar Frozen and the Lady Burned
  • The Ninth Day [on open topics]
    • IX. Story 5: Calandrino in Love
      IX. Story 6: Three Beds and a Cradle
      IX. Story 10: The Spell that Turns Women to Mares
  • The Tenth Day [about those who have acted with generosity or magnanimity in any capacity]
    • X. Story 3: Nathan Offers his Life
      X. Story 5: A Lady’s Honour for a Garden in Winter
      X. Story 8: The Perfect Friendship of Tito and Gisippus
      X. Story 10: Griselda’s Remarkable Patience
  • The Author’s Epilogue
In Context
The Black Death
  • Images of the Black Death
    from Marchione di Coppo Stefani, The Florentine Chronicle (ca. 1389), “Concerning the Black Death in the City of Florence, Mortal to Many People,”
Accounts of Boccaccio’s Life
  • Giannozzo Manetti, “The Life of Giovanni Boccaccio” (1440)
    Ludovico Dolce, “A Description of the Life of Messer Giovanni Boccaccio” (1552)
Sources and Antecedents
  • from Apuleius, The Golden Ass (c. 160 CE), from Book Nine: “The Lover in the Barrel” (c. 160 CE)
    from Petrus Alphonsus, Disciplina Clericalis, “The Two Perfect Friends,” (12th century)
    from Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love (c. 1180)
      from Book 1
        Chapter 1. What Love Is
        Chapter 3. Where Love Gets Its Name
        from Chapter 4. What the Effect of Love Is
        from Chapter 8. The Love of Nuns
        from Chapter 9. Love Got with Money
        Chapter 11. The Love of Peasants
      from Book 2
        from Chapter 8. The Rules of Love
Anonymous, “Concerning a Priest and a Lady” (13th century)
from Anonymous, Il novellino (1281-1300)
  • XIV. How a king raised his son in darkness, then revealed to him all there was in the world, and how the boy found women above all things the most pleasing.
    LXXIII. How the Sultan in search of money tried to snare a Jew through litigation.
    LXXXVIII. The Never-ending Story.
from Giovanni Boccaccio, The Questions of Love: “The Fourth Question, as proposed by Menedon” (1335-36) The Tale of Patient Griselda
  • from Francesco Petrarch, Letter to Boccaccio on “The Tale of Patient Griselda” (1373)
    Anonymous, “A Most Pleasant Ballad of Patient Grissell” (c. 1600)
Patterns of Influence
  • from Sir Thomas Elyot, The Book Named the Governour: from Bk. II, Chap. 12, “The Wonderful History of Titus and Gisippus, whereby is fully declared the figure of perfect amity.” (1531)
    from Giovan Francesco Straparola, The Pleasant Nights (Piacevoli notti) (1550, 1553)
    • from the Proem
      Rodolino and Violante, or The Broken Hearts
Early Illustrations

Notă biografică

Giovanni Boccaccio was born in Florence, Italy, in 1313, and he died there in 1375. His life thus coincided with the flowering of the early Renaissance and indeed his closest friend was Petrarch, the other towering literary figure of the period. During his lifetime, Boccaccio was a diplomat, businessman, and international traveler, as well as the creator of numerous works of prose and poetry. Of his achievements, The Decameron, completed sometime between 1350 and 1352, remains his lasting contribution—immensely popular from its original appearance to the present day—to world literature.

Mark Musa is a professor at the Center for Italian Studies at Indiana University. A former Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellow, Musa is the author of a highly acclaimed translation of Dante's Divine Comedy.
Mark Musa and Peter Bondanella are professors at the Center for Italian Studies at Indiana University. Mark Musa, a former Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellow, is the author of a highly acclaimed translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Peter Bondanella, a former Younger Humanist and Senior Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, has published, among other works, Machiavelli and the Art of Renaissance History and Federico Fellini: Essays in Criticism. He is coeditor of The Dictionary of Italian Literature and The Portable Machiavelli.

Extras

Decameron

Just as Hamlet has been described as full of quotations, so the Decameron may at times seem to be full of stories we have heard before. That so many later writers have drawn on this work is of course a testimony to Boccaccio's skill as a storyteller: few if any of these tales were of his own invention, but – as is often said about jokes – it is the way they are told that counts. To imply a comparison with telling jokes is not inapposite and is not to depreciate these stories: true words can be spoken in jest. The complexities of this work are such that not only the book as a whole, but each of the hundred tales has acquired its own extensive critical bibliography. Nevertheless, the essential thing is as always (in the words of Pope) simply to

. . . read each work of wit
With the same spirit that its author writ
(Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 233–4)

which in this case involves being alive to the subtle play of the writer's mind over his narrative, and being especially sensitive to Boccaccio's nods and winks. In his Conclusion to the work he gives some advice to readers who might be offended by the inclusion of bawdy tales: they can easily check first with the summaries given at the head of the tales and thus avoid any which are likely to upset them (or, although Boccaccio does not quite say this, use the same method if they want to find those tales in order to read them). In his Conclusion he says he could hardly have avoided mentioning everyday objects, such as pestles and mortars, which might be thought by some to have a sexual significance, and in saying this he draws attention to their significance for the sake of any reader who might have missed it.

It is natural, when reading a book of short stories, particularly when they are placed in a fictional framework, to look for some purpose in their arrangement, and in the Decameron it is not difficult to find reasons for the way they are set out. Against what might be called the ''blackground'' of the 1348 plague in Florence, with its breakdown of law and order and the usual decencies, a civilized assembly of seven young women and three young men in a villa outside the city and their entertaining tales stand out in bright relief. At the same time it should be recognized that the reader does not remain conscious of this background for very long, as the stories themselves distract him. Similarly, order is given to the tales by various devices: many of them are grouped under common themes; they may be placed in opposition to each other, comic ones to contrast with solemn ones, and so on. All this is true, but it does not mean that the work as a whole is a kind of bourgeois epic, as has been suggested, or even simply one long story. Short stories are by their nature enclosed works, each with a beginning, a middle and an end, and however many there are, and however they are arranged, they remain separate. They are like sonnets in this respect and, like sonnets arranged in a sequence, they are strikingly ill suited to the telling of one long tale. Like a group of sonnets, however, they do have to be arranged in some fashion, they do have to be put down one after another, and their author does well to place each sonnet or short story in a position where it may be seen at its best, and this Boccaccio has done. There are patterns to be found, but they are such as reveal themselves to later consideration rather than in the act of reading.

It is also natural for anyone to ponder what each story adds up to, what its point is, or perhaps what moral comes out of it. In the Decameron we are again and again encouraged to do this, although often the encouragement is not explicit but implicit in the actions of the stories themselves. The storytellers frequently appear to be little concerned with moral issues. For instance the merchant Landolfo Rufolo (ii.4), after losing all his money by unwise investment in stock, decides to become a pirate (as an indirect result of which he eventually prospers); there is no adverse comment on this kind of business diversification, merely a slight hint of extenuation when we are told that he ''devoted himself to making other people's property his own, especially that of the Turks.''

There is even at times in the Decameron a pleasure in flagrantly unchristian actions, as in the tale (viii.7) of the scholar's meticulous and sadistic revenge on the widow, where the symmetry between the initial offence and the revenge triumphs over all other considerations: there is very often a Kiplingesque delight in getting one's own back. Again, sheer cleverness is often seen as an admirable characteristic, particularly when it enables people to extricate themselves from tricky situations, as with the erring wife in Arezzo (vii.4) who manages so unerringly to put her innocent husband in the wrong. And although friars are attacked fiercely for their failure to live up to Christian standards, this does not prevent our taking pleasure in the glorious lying eloquence of Brother Cipolla (vi.10), who could give Chaucer's Pardoner a run for his money. Both of them are adept at openly mocking their audiences in the very instant of deceiving them. Perhaps this glorification of smart-aleckry ought not to be so surprising: most of us have been familiar from a very early age with folk tales such as that of Puss-in-Boots, the arch confidence trickster; but it does shock when it comes in stories of such evident moral sophistication, in a collection where many of the tales exalt Christian values of honesty, trustworthiness, and kindness. Oscar Wilde's Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest said of the novel she had written: ''The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.'' She had clearly not read the Decameron.

The desire to put one over on others is closely connected with an emphasis on worldly honour, most obviously in the great concern for reputation. This can be taken to extraordinary lengths, as when a man is prepared to commit murder (x.3) in order to take over his victim's reputation as the most hospitable of men!

We are not dealing here merely with the expected cultural differences between a fourteenth-century Florentine and ourselves: indeed the popularity of the Decameron over so many hundreds of years testifies rather to what we have in common with Boccaccio, which is basically our humanity. To try to extract a set of generally applicable abstract principles of morality from these tales is a waste of time. The moral attitude varies with the storyteller and the story, and the net result is a whole world of conflicting, and frequently unresolved, reactions and attitudes – in short, the world we live in.