To-morrow, as you know, it will be fifteen days since we departed Florence, to take some diversion for the preservation of our health and of our lives, eschewing the woes and dolours and miseries which, since this pestilential season began, are continually to be seen about our city. Much of the Decameron, of course, is written tongue in cheek, and it is up to the reader to draw the lesson.“Charming ladies, as I doubt not you know, the understanding of mortals consisteth not only in having in memory things past and taking cognizance of things present but in knowing, by means of the one and the other of these, to forecast things future is reputed by men of mark to consist the greatest wisdom. I would caution those who think of the Decameron as the celebration of "romantic activity." The ten young storytellers who escape the city abstain from any sexual activity in order to tell their stories, including those that celebrate sex or warn about the dangerous or even lethal consequences of "mad love," jealousy and other forms of excessive erotic behavior. Kean Collection // Getty Images Have you seen/heard the recent coinage "Coronavirus and Chill," which describes a supposed increase of romantic activity because people are cooped up together? Is there a parallel to be drawn to the erotic stories in the Decameron? This decision can be interpreted in two different and somewhat opposite ways: as an escape from the common destiny of those who can afford a luxurious shelter (similar to the doomsday bunkers that very rich people build for themselves today) and as the utopian desire to rebuild together a better, more ethical and harmoniously natural way of life, out of the ruins of the old world.Īn engraving of Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), known as the father of classic Italian prose. I would point to the ethical dilemma the ten young protagonists face in their decision to (temporarily) abandon the city. Beyond the obvious similarities of the book’s protagonists escaping to a villa and Americans holing up in their homes, what themes should contemporary readers look for when reading Boccaccio's text today? Boccaccio's masterpiece is often quoted or described in relation to its temporal setting, the time of the great plague (a different disease, of course, albeit, coincidentally also originated in the "Far East") that wiped out half the population of 14th-century Florence. Do you think the recent spike in interest in the Decameron is tied to the spread of the coronavirus?
T&C reached out to Massimo Riva, chair of Brown University’s Italian Studies Department and co-editor of Decameron Web, to ask about the renewed popularity of the book Boccaccio completed more than 600 years ago. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play
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