Literary analysis of tales in Boccaccio’s Decameron, with particular concern for love, gender, and men. Giovanni Boccaccio wrote his vernacular masterpiece the Decameron in Italian in Florence probably between 1348 and 1353.
Medieval poets re-imagined female figures of the melodious nightingale & heavenly Jerusalem to incorporate in hymns men’s interests, concerns, and hopes. … Read the post melodious nightingale & heavenly Jerusalem: medieval re-imaginings
Boccaccio transformed Exemplum de decem cofris into Salabaetto overcoming Madama Iancofiore’s financial exploitation of his love affair with her. … Read the post Salabaetto & Madama Iancofiore revised Exemplum de decem cofris
In Decameron X.9, Boccaccio responded to Dante with vision of true consolation of Lady Philosophy: personally loving, virtuous action in worldly living. … Read the post Dante’s Boethius buried in Boccaccio’s Decameron X.9
Tertullian called his best beloved sisters the devil’s gateway. Boccaccio interpreted Tertullian’s figure in a way scarcely imaginable today. … Read the post the devil’s gateway & putting the devil back into Hell
In translating Boccacco’s Griselda story, Petrarch shifted it to clerical moralization, while Chaucer moved it toward noble ladies’ amusement. … Read the post Boccaccio's Griselda in new contexts of Petrarch & Chaucer
Troilus in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato & Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida: comparative analysis of death-seeking. … Read the post Troilus’s death-seeking: Chaucer vs. Boccaccio & Shakespeare
Comparison of Boccoccio’s Decameron X.5 (Gilberto, Dianora, and Ansaldo) and Chaucer’s The Franklin’s Tale (Arveragus, Dorigen, and Aurelius). … Read the post Boccaccio's Gilberto & Chaucer's Arveragus on wives' affairs
Sparkling amid stories containing the “lover’s gift regained” motif is Decameron VIII.2. It ends in sexual mutuality and happiness. … Read the post critical understanding of "lover’s gift regained" story motif
The Decameron’s story of Tito and Gisippo reveals, under formal ideals of civic friendship, narrow interests and dominating power. … Read the post friendship for Tito and Gisippo from Athens to Rome
In Decameron IX.10, Donno Gianni has four-legged-style vaginal intercourse with Gemmata while her husband, watching, interrupts to favor the ass. … Read the post metatextual irony follows Gemmata, Pietro and Donno Gianni