The Decameron Summary
Giovanni Boccaccio

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio was probably born in 1313 in Florence. The illegitimate son of a partner in one of the city’s most important banking companies, the Bar... Read more

VOLUME II Pietro and Agnolella (fifth day, third story) Gianni and Restituta (fifth day, sixth story) Calandrino singing (ninth day, fifth story) Titus, Gisippus, and Sophronia (tenth day, eighth stor... Read more

The Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) is best known for the Decameron. For his Latin works and his role in reviving Hellenistic learning in Florence, he may be considered one of the early ... Read more

In the following excerpt from an essay written in 1871, De Sanctis celebrates Boccaccio's earthy comedy, contrasting it with the high seriousness of the works of Dante and Petrarch. Boccacci... Read more

In the following excerpt, Forni examines Boccaccio's opening strategies for the stories in the Decameron, focusing on his ability to move from the familiar to the unusual. The sixteenth-cent... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in 1959, Shklovskij argues that, with the opening tales of the Decameron, Boccaccio subverts traditional Christian piety and its accompanying sexual morali... Read more

In the following essay, originally delivered as a lecture in 1975, Bergin reviews Boccaccio's career and reflects on the historical and environmental foundations of the Decameron, characterizin... Read more

In the following essay, Auerbach offers a close textual analysis of how Boccaccio's style and syntax influence the tone and momentum of his narrative. In a famous novella of the Decameron (I... Read more

In the following excerpt, Smarr argues that in the Decameron Boccaccio further explores his distrust of the power of reason, a theme previously expressed in many of his minor works. I. Reason Reaso... Read more