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A review by leelulah
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
2.0
Read for The Literary Life Podcast Reading Challenge: 19 in 2021
I did a curious experiment with this one, for the most part, except for the brief day 7, I listened to half of the stories as an audiobook. It worked. The Decameron got me out of my reading slump! Stars reflect only my level of enjoyment and not the unarguable value of this literary work as the first "novel" in "Modern Italian".
14. A 14th, 15th, or 16th century book
Imagine 10 young adults between the ages of 18-25 who are bored and at risk of dying of a pandemic in the year of our Lord 1348. Of course, the plague has killed lots of people, and they need a source of relax and entertainment, so they leave the city and, agreeing to lead the topic of narrations, they sit (presumably in a circle) and during the nights, they tell each other tales of love and lust, deception and humor, irreverence (religious relativism) and piety. 10 stories for 10 days. A total of 100 tales. It's no wonder the reading of this book increased the past year with our very own pandemic.
Some tales were kind of repetitive, especially the adulterous kind. Most religious people were presented as corrupt, the least were presented as naïve. The best tales, for me, were those where simple words were enough to get out of situations which resulted in some comedic value that didn't rely on 'and then the spouse never found out and they had sex forever and ever', or a character who's just gets something after persevering.
I actually don't agree much with the idea of the majority of the tales being laugh out loud funny, as the characters seem to imply... it seems more high school kind of humor at some point, but some tales were more tragic, including, but not limited to rape, beheading, taking someone's heart out... still, it's good for cultural interest and to see the mindset of someone who would help kickstart the Renaissance, though I argue this book is Medieval in many senses and not just by chronology, think of someone like Chaucer.
Though I would recommend its reading for mature teens and adults due to a few sexual references, it's by no means pornographic. It would be probably a good proof to show that the Middle Ages did not suffer from the decried Victorian mores of yesteryear.
I did a curious experiment with this one, for the most part, except for the brief day 7, I listened to half of the stories as an audiobook. It worked. The Decameron got me out of my reading slump! Stars reflect only my level of enjoyment and not the unarguable value of this literary work as the first "novel" in "Modern Italian".
14. A 14th, 15th, or 16th century book
Imagine 10 young adults between the ages of 18-25 who are bored and at risk of dying of a pandemic in the year of our Lord 1348. Of course, the plague has killed lots of people, and they need a source of relax and entertainment, so they leave the city and, agreeing to lead the topic of narrations, they sit (presumably in a circle) and during the nights, they tell each other tales of love and lust, deception and humor, irreverence (religious relativism) and piety. 10 stories for 10 days. A total of 100 tales. It's no wonder the reading of this book increased the past year with our very own pandemic.
Some tales were kind of repetitive, especially the adulterous kind. Most religious people were presented as corrupt, the least were presented as naïve. The best tales, for me, were those where simple words were enough to get out of situations which resulted in some comedic value that didn't rely on 'and then the spouse never found out and they had sex forever and ever', or a character who's just gets something after persevering.
I actually don't agree much with the idea of the majority of the tales being laugh out loud funny, as the characters seem to imply... it seems more high school kind of humor at some point, but some tales were more tragic, including, but not limited to rape, beheading, taking someone's heart out... still, it's good for cultural interest and to see the mindset of someone who would help kickstart the Renaissance, though I argue this book is Medieval in many senses and not just by chronology, think of someone like Chaucer.
Though I would recommend its reading for mature teens and adults due to a few sexual references, it's by no means pornographic. It would be probably a good proof to show that the Middle Ages did not suffer from the decried Victorian mores of yesteryear.