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A review by aabha
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
4.0
For being written in 1353 I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. These short allegorical stories are bold, raunchy and very scandalous. They give us a peek into medieval life, the morality of the time, views on property and sex and women and the clergy. Actually two main themes in the stories are misbehaving women and misbehaving clergymen. But they also talk about the more practical aspects of medieval life like sanitation(there a really stinky story of a man falling into a cesspit), burial practices(why do people in these stories love to climb into tombs?) and the treatment of servants(Pretty much like disposable tissues.)
Like any short story collection, some are better than others. That’s my subjective opinion, your favorite ones could be totally different from mine. That’s just how short story collections are.
Where this book wins your heart though is in the language. Each character, no matter Of high or low social standing, is given good lines. Quite democratic. Look at how an assassin addresses his victim “command your soul to god, my lady, for this is the place you must die.” Or how inventively he uses a different way each time to describe what is essentially “a fuck.” For example, “...he began making amorous sport with her. She had no conception of the horn men do their butting with...” Even his casual sexism has some lyrical qualities “...she was youthful and vivacious and she possessed rather more intelligence than a woman needs.” And let’s not forget the downright strange “The ladies were laughing so heartily that you could have pulled their teeth out.”
As a lot of literature is inspired by and borrows from the Decameron and as an extension film and tv which I can now appreciate with a little more depth. The Ramsey Bolton hunting scene in game of thrones is described in perfect detail, down to the hounds. Here it is.
“Furthermore, on looking straight ahead he caught sight of a naked woman, young and very beautiful, who was running through a dense Thicket of shrubs and briars towards the very spot where he was standing. The woman’s hair was disheveled, her flesh was all torn by the briars and brambles, and she was sobbing and screaming for mercy. Nor was this all, for a pair Of big, fierce mastiffs we’re running at the girls heels, one on either side, and every so often they caught up with her and savaged her. Finally, bringing up the rear he saw a swarthy looking knight, his face contorted with anger, who was riding a jet black steed and brandishing a rapper and who, in terms no less abusive than terrifying, was threatening to kill her.”
The movie “the little hours,” which is a great movie by the way, is based on a couple of stories from day three. I saw a bit of Shakespearean imagery in there and apparently Chaucer borrowed from it too. I can’t wait to discover more art that the Decameron Inspired.
Finally, we can’t really talk about these stories without a bit of feminist perspective. There are a lot of perplexingly contrary stories, in some the woman outwits her abusers and is the heroine like the story where an adulterous wife argues with the judge that her adultery can not be punished(horrifically by burning at the stake) because “...men and women should be equal before law..” and no such law existed for men. And she wins the case too. In others, wives aren’t satisfied by their husbands performance in bed so they come up with inventive ways to fulfill their desires with other men. And sometimes they get caught and others they get away with it. This declaration and affirmation of female desire Seems possibly feminist. But other stories are horrific in their dealing with women. Especially if a women becomes too proud of her looks, she might be tortured to near death. There’s talk of beating women regularly to keep them in check thought the saying about the rod and the woman may be taken to have a whole other meaning as well. We’ll never know will we.
There are stories in here that are uninteresting and frankly a bit ridiculous. Others are hilarious and shine with sheer brilliance. It may be problematic but the Decameron is definitely a product of its time and it’s a fascinating look into medieval times.
Recommended to All who wish to see a people “hoist by their own petard.”
Like any short story collection, some are better than others. That’s my subjective opinion, your favorite ones could be totally different from mine. That’s just how short story collections are.
Where this book wins your heart though is in the language. Each character, no matter Of high or low social standing, is given good lines. Quite democratic. Look at how an assassin addresses his victim “command your soul to god, my lady, for this is the place you must die.” Or how inventively he uses a different way each time to describe what is essentially “a fuck.” For example, “...he began making amorous sport with her. She had no conception of the horn men do their butting with...” Even his casual sexism has some lyrical qualities “...she was youthful and vivacious and she possessed rather more intelligence than a woman needs.” And let’s not forget the downright strange “The ladies were laughing so heartily that you could have pulled their teeth out.”
As a lot of literature is inspired by and borrows from the Decameron and as an extension film and tv which I can now appreciate with a little more depth. The Ramsey Bolton hunting scene in game of thrones is described in perfect detail, down to the hounds. Here it is.
“Furthermore, on looking straight ahead he caught sight of a naked woman, young and very beautiful, who was running through a dense Thicket of shrubs and briars towards the very spot where he was standing. The woman’s hair was disheveled, her flesh was all torn by the briars and brambles, and she was sobbing and screaming for mercy. Nor was this all, for a pair Of big, fierce mastiffs we’re running at the girls heels, one on either side, and every so often they caught up with her and savaged her. Finally, bringing up the rear he saw a swarthy looking knight, his face contorted with anger, who was riding a jet black steed and brandishing a rapper and who, in terms no less abusive than terrifying, was threatening to kill her.”
The movie “the little hours,” which is a great movie by the way, is based on a couple of stories from day three. I saw a bit of Shakespearean imagery in there and apparently Chaucer borrowed from it too. I can’t wait to discover more art that the Decameron Inspired.
Finally, we can’t really talk about these stories without a bit of feminist perspective. There are a lot of perplexingly contrary stories, in some the woman outwits her abusers and is the heroine like the story where an adulterous wife argues with the judge that her adultery can not be punished(horrifically by burning at the stake) because “...men and women should be equal before law..” and no such law existed for men. And she wins the case too. In others, wives aren’t satisfied by their husbands performance in bed so they come up with inventive ways to fulfill their desires with other men. And sometimes they get caught and others they get away with it. This declaration and affirmation of female desire Seems possibly feminist. But other stories are horrific in their dealing with women. Especially if a women becomes too proud of her looks, she might be tortured to near death. There’s talk of beating women regularly to keep them in check thought the saying about the rod and the woman may be taken to have a whole other meaning as well. We’ll never know will we.
There are stories in here that are uninteresting and frankly a bit ridiculous. Others are hilarious and shine with sheer brilliance. It may be problematic but the Decameron is definitely a product of its time and it’s a fascinating look into medieval times.
Recommended to All who wish to see a people “hoist by their own petard.”