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Sign up todayThe Decameron
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Learn moreIn 1348, the year of the Black Death, seven ladies and three gentlemen escape the dying, corrupt city of Florence to pass ten days in the hills of Fiesole telling each other stories. Reveling in their enchanted dreamworld of beauty and luxury, they take turns playing king or queen for the day, with the designated ruler naming the stipulations for that day's story. In contrast to their idyllic, gentile environment, the stories they tell are marked by an intense, cynical realism and feature ordinary people of less privileged classes. Boccaccio brings these stories alive with the authentic language of the different social classes and a frank, realistic handling of character. His satire often bites deep, yet he embraces evil and holiness alike with sympathy and tolerance, leaving guilty characters to condemn themselves.
Like Dante's Divine Comedy, The Decameron is a monumental work of medieval pre-Renaissance literature.
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) was an Italian author and poet, a friend and correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. As a writer he is particularly notable for the verisimilitude of his dialogue, in an age when most writers followed formulaic models for character and plot.
Frederick Davidson (1932–2005), also known as David Case, was one of the most prolific readers in the audiobook industry, recording more than eight hundred audiobooks in his lifetime, including over two hundred for Blackstone Audio. Born in London, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed for many years in radio plays for the British Broadcasting Company before coming to America in 1976. He received AudioFile’s Golden Voice Award and numerous Earphones Awards and was nominated for a Grammy for his readings.
Reviews
“Boccaccio broke free of all tradition and created a living literature about ordinary people...The Decameron transcends the medieval period and, going beyond the Renaissance, takes its place as universal art.”
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