In the summer of 1348, as the Black Death ravages their city, ten young Florentines take refuge in the countryside. They amuse themselves by each telling a story a day for the ten days they are destined to remain there - a hundred stories of love, adventure and surprising twists of fate. Less preoccupied with abstract concepts of morality or religion than earthly values, the tales range from the bawdy Peronella hiding her lover in a tub to Ser Cepperallo, who, despite his unholy effrontery, becomes a Saint. The result is a towering monument of European literature and a masterpiece of imaginative narrative.

In the summer of 1348, with the plague ravaging Florence, ten young men and women take refuge in the countryside, where they entertain themselves with tales of love, death, and corruption, featuring a host of characters, from lascivious clergymen and mad kings to devious lovers and false miracle-makers. Named after the Greek for “ten days,” Boccaccio’s book of stories draws on ancient mythology, contemporary history, and everyday life, and has influenced the work of myriad writers who came after him.

J. G. Nichols’s new translation, faithful to the original but rendered in eminently readable modern English, captures the timeless humor of one of the great classics of European literature.

A brilliant new translation of the work that Herman Hesse called “the first great masterpiece of European storytelling.”


From the Hardcover edition.

This carefully crafted ebook: "The Decameron: The Original English Translation by John Florio" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. John Florio 's translation of The Decameron was originally published in London in 1620. The Decameron was written by Giovanni Boccaccio (probably begun in 1350 and finished in 1353). Comprised of 100 novellas told by ten men and women over a ten day journey fleeing plague-infested Florence, the Decameron is an allegorical work famous for its bawdy portrayals of everyday life, its searing wit and mockery, and its careful adherence to a framed structure. The word "decameron" is derived from the Greek and means "ten days". Boccaccio drew on many influences in writing the Decameron, and many writers, including Martin Luther, Chaucer, and Keats, later drew inspiration from the book. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) was an Italian writer and humanist, one of the founders of the Renaissance. He studied business but abandoned it eventually to pursue his literary interests. In 1350 Boccaccio met Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) (1304-1374), one the most important figures in the beginnings of the Renaissance and Humanism.

Inspired by the Black Plague that devastated Europe in the mid-1300s, Boccaccio's collection of tales is an enormously influential literary masterpiece with a sly humor and irreverence that will appeal to modern readers. In the hopes of avoiding the plague, a group of ten wealthy young men and women decamp to a country villa on the outskirts of Florence. Once there, they decide to amuse themselves with a storytelling competition of sorts, with each attendee offering one tale each day for a period of ten days. The stories are by turns ribald, tragic and everything in between.

The Decameron is a 14th-century medieval allegory by Giovanni Boccaccio, told as a frame story encompassing 100 tales by ten young people. The various tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. In addition to its literary import, it documents life in 14th-century Italy. In Italy during the time of the Black Death, a group of seven young women and three young men flee from plague-ridden Florence to a villa, where no one lives, in the countryside of Fiesole for two weeks. To pass the evenings, every member of the party tells a story each night, except for one day per week for chores, and the holy days in which they do no work at all, resulting in ten nights of storytelling over the course of two weeks. Thus, by the end of the fortnight they have told 100 stories.

 En la colección de Grandes Antologías descubriremos los cuentos imprescindibles de una gran variedad de autores destacados en la historia de la literatura universal. 
El presente volumen es el que conforma la antología de cuentos con origen italiano de la colección. 

Algunos autores: Edmundo de Amicis, Giovanni Boccaccio, Alberto Moravia, Dino Buzzati, Italo Calvino, Cesare Pavese, Franco Sacchetti.

Los mejores libros jamás escritos.

«A una breve tristeza (digo breve porque se contiene en pocas líneas) seguirán prestamente la dulzura y el placer.»

Giovanni Boccaccio logró con el Decamerón, en palabras del premio Nobel Hermann Hesse, «la primera gran obra maestra de la narrativa europea». Titulado así por la palabra griega que designa «diez jornadas», es sin duda uno de los grandes monumentos de la literatura universal. Siete damas y tres jóvenes se retiran a una villa situada a las afueras de Florencia huyendo de la peste de 1348. Allí permanecen diez días con sus diez noches y, para distraerse, cada uno de ellos debe hacerse cargo de una jornada completa de entretenimiento. La actividad principal es la narración de cuentos de amor y muerte y engaño, protagonizados por clérigos lascivos, reyes locos, amantes taimados y milagreros farsantes, entre otros personajes.

Abre esta edición el célebre ensayo «Boccaccio medieval», donde Vittore Branca disecciona el espíritu boccacciano para reivindicar su gozosa tradición medieval y rechazar las lecturas renacentistas espurias y forzadas.

Hyvä novelli uhmaa aikaansa. Maailma muuttuu, mutta muuttuvatko ihmisen toiveet ja pelot maailman mukana? Jokaisen sukupolven on määriteltävä uudelleen, mistä elämän merkitys syntyy.

Tämän kokoelman novellit kertovat erilaisten ihmisten kohtaamisista. Mukana on seitsemän klassikkokirjailijan 19 novellia. Ne tekevät lukijalleen tärkeitä kysymyksiä ja antavat usein myös vastauksia niitä etsiville. Siksi mestarinovelleihin kannattaa palata yhä uudelleen.

Antologian novellit edustavat länsimaisen novellitaiteen klassikoita. Kokoelman vanhin novelli, Giovanni Boccaccion Metsästyshaukka, vie lajin juurille 1300-luvun Toscanaan. Myöhemmät tekstit kertovat lajin monipuolistumisesta eri kulttuureissa. Tärkeiksi maiksi tulivat Venäjä, jossa lyhyttä proosaa kehittivät erityisesti Aleksandr Puškin ja Anton Tšehov, sekä Ranska, jota tässä antologiassa edustavat Alphonse Daudet ja Guy de Maupassant. Englanninkielisestä kulttuurista äänen saavat Edgar Allan Poe ja Katherine Mansfield.

Laatulukemistossa ilmestyy uusina painoksina kotimaisia ja käännöskirjallisuuden merkkiteoksia. Sarjan aloittavat klassikkonovellien antologia Kohtaamisia ja Juhani Ahon romaani Papin tytär. Lukijoiden toiveiden mukaisesti sarja täydentyy proosateoksilla, näytelmillä, runoantologioilla. Laatulukemiston nimikkeissä otetaan erityisesti huomioon koulujen kirjallisuudenopetuksen tarpeet.

Many stories, sweet my ladies, occur to me as meet for me to tell by way of ushering in a day so joyous as this will be: of which one does most commend itself to my mind, because not only has it, one of those happy endings of which today we are in quest, but 'twill enable you to understand how holy, how mighty and how salutary are the forces of Love, which not a few, witting not what they say, do most unjustly reprobate and revile: which, if I err not, should to you, for that I take you to be enamoured, be indeed welcome.

In this Volume-two, ”Endeth here the fourth day of the Decameron, beginneth the fifth, in which under the rule of Fiammetta discourse is had of good fortune befalling lovers after divers direful or disastrous adventures. ”
All the east was white, nor any part of our hemisphere unillumined by the rising beams, when the carolling of the birds that in gay chorus saluted the dawn among the boughs induced Fiammetta to rise and rouse the other ladies and the three gallants; with whom adown the hill and about the dewy meads of the broad champaign she sauntered, talking gaily of divers matters, until the sun had attained some height.

—DETAILED CONTENTS—
- FIFTH DAY -
NOVEL I. - Cimon, by loving, waxes wise, wins his wife Iphigenia by capture on the high seas, and is imprisoned at Rhodes. He is delivered by Lysimachus; and the twain cap-ture Cassandra and recapture Iphigenia in the hour of their marriage. They flee with their ladies to Crete, and having there married them, are brought back to their homes.
NOVEL II. - Gostanza loves Martuccio Gomito, and hear-ing that he is dead, gives way to despair, and hies her alone aboard a boat, which is wafted by the wind to Susa. She finds him alive in Tunis, and makes herself known to him, who, having by his counsel gained high place in the king's favour, marries her, and returns with her wealthy to Lipari.
NOVEL III. - Pietro Boccamazza runs away with Agnolella, and encounters a gang of robbers: the girl takes refuge in a wood, and is guided to a castle. Pietro is taken, but escapes out of the hands of the robbers, and after some adventures arrives at the castle where Agnolella is, marries her, and returns with her to Rome.
NOVEL IV. - Ricciardo Manardi is found by Messer Lizio da Valbona with his daughter, whom he marries, and remains at peace with her father.
NOVEL V. - Guidotto da Cremona dies leaving a girl to Giacomino da Pavia. She has two lovers in Faenza, to wit, Giannole di Severino and Minghino di Mingole, who fight about her. She is discovered to be Giannole's sister, and is given to Minghino to wife.
NOVEL VI. - Gianni di Procida, being found with a damsel that he loves, and who had been given to King Frederic, is bound with her to a stake, so to be burned. He is recognized by Ruggieri dell' Oria, is delivered, and marries her.
NOVEL VII. - Teodoro, being enamoured of Violante, daughter of Messer Amerigo, his lord, gets her with child, and is sentenced to the gallows; but while he is being scourged thither, he is recognized by his father, and being set at large, takes Violante to wife.
NOVEL VIII. - Nastagio degli Onesti, loving a damsel of the Traversari family, by lavish expenditure gains not her love. At the instance of his kinsfolk he hies him to Chiassi, where he sees a knight hunt a damsel and slay her and cause her to be devoured by two dogs. He bids his kinsfolk and the lady that he loves to breakfast. During the meal the said damsel is torn in pieces before the eyes of the lady, who, fearing a like fate, takes Nastagio to husband.
NOVEL IX. - Federigo degli Alberighi loves and is not loved in return: he wastes his substance by lavishness until nought is left but a single falcon, which, his lady being come to see him at his house, he gives her to eat: she, knowing his case, changes her mind, takes him to husband and makes him rich.
NOVEL X. - Pietro di Vinciolo goes from home to sup: his wife brings a boy into the house to bear her company: Pietro returns, and she hides her gallant under a hen-coop: Pietro explains that in the house of Ercolano, with whom he was to have supped, there was discovered a young man bestowed there by Ercolano's wife: the lady thereupon censures Ercolano's wife: but unluckily an ass treads on the fingers of the boy that is hidden under the hen-coop, so that he cries for pain: Pietro runs to the place, sees him, and apprehends the trick played on him by his wife, which nevertheless he finally condones, for he is not himself free from blame.

While the Black Death rages through 14th-century Florence, a group of young people retreat to the healthful air of the countryside and amuse themselves by telling tales of romance and adventure. This is the premise of Boccaccio's Decameron, a landmark of early Renaissance literature and one of the world's great story collections. 
Vast in scope, teeming with colorful characters, and rich in worldly wisdom, these 25 tales from the original 100 encompass a variety of genres — folktales, ancient myths, fables, and anecdotes ranging from earthy satires of hypocritical clergy to gripping tales of murder and revenge and stories of passionate love. Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Keats drew upon Boccaccio's masterpiece for inspiration, and the grand old storyteller's fables continue to captivate modern readers.

This carefully crafted ebook: "The Decameron: The Classic Translation of John Payne" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. John Payne's translation of The Decameron was originally published in a private printing for The Villon Society, London in 1886. Comprised of 100 novellas told by ten men and women over a ten day journey fleeing plague-infested Florence, the Decameron is an allegorical work famous for its bawdy portrayals of everyday life, its searing wit and mockery, and its careful adherence to a framed structure. The word "decameron" is derived from the Greek and means "ten days". Boccaccio drew on many influences in writing the Decameron, and many writers, including Martin Luther, Chaucer, and Keats, later drew inspiration from the book. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) was an Italian writer and humanist, one of the founders of the Renaissance. He studied business but abandoned it eventually to pursue his literary interests. In 1350 Boccaccio met Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) (1304-1374), one the most important figures in the beginnings of the Renaissance and Humanism.

The Decameron, also called Prince Galehaut, is a 14th-century medieval allegory by Giovanni Boccaccio, told as a frame story encompassing 100 tales by ten young people. The book's primary title exemplifies Boccaccio's fondness for Greek philology: Decameron combines two Greek words, Greek: dÈka ("ten") and (Greek: hemÈra ("day"), to form a term that means "ten-day event". Ten days is the time period in which the characters of the frame story tell their tales.

This carefully crafted ebook: "The Decameron: 3 Different Translations by John Florio, John Payne and J.M. Rigg in 1 eBook" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The Decameron (c.1351) is an entertaining series of one hundred stories written in the wake of the Black Death. The stories are told in a country villa outside the city of Florence by ten young noble men and women who are seeking to escape the ravages of the plague. Boccaccio's skill as a dramatist is masterfully displayed in these vivid portraits of people from all stations in life, with plots that revel in a bewildering variety of human reactions. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) was an Italian writer and humanist, one of the founders of the Renaissance. He studied business but abandoned it eventually to pursue his literary interests. In 1350 Boccaccio met Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) (1304-1374), one the most important figures in the beginnings of the Renaissance and Humanism.

“Rebhorn deserves our gratitude for an eminently persuasive translation. . . . I celebrate his accomplishment.”—Edith Grossman The year is 1348. The Black Death has begun to ravage Europe. Ten young Florentines—seven women and three men—escape the plague-infested city and retreat to the countryside around Fiesole. At their leisure in this isolated and bucolic setting, they spend ten days telling each other stories—tales of romance, tragedy, comedy, and farce—one hundred in all. The result, called by one critic "the greatest short story collection of all time" (Leonard Barkan, Princeton University) is a rich and entertaining celebration of the medley of medieval life.

Witty, earthy, and filled with bawdy irreverence, the one hundred stories of The Decameron offer more than simple escapism; they are also a life-affirming balm for trying times. The Decameron is a joyously comic book that has earned its place in world literature not just because it makes us laugh, but more importantly because it shows us how essential laughter is to the human condition.

Published on the 700th anniversary of Boccaccio’s birth, Wayne A. Rebhorn's new translation of The Decameron introduces a generation of readers to this "rich late-medieval feast" in a "lively, contemporary, American-inflected English" (Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University) even as it retains the distinctly medieval flavor of Boccaccio's rhetorically expressive prose.

An extensive introduction provides useful details about Boccaccio's historical and cultural milieu, the themes and particularities of the text, and the lines of influence flowing into and out of this towering monument of world literature.