The Decameron Author:Giovanni Boccaccio The Decameron (c.1351) is an entertaining series of one hundred stories written in the wake of the Black Death. The stories are told in a country villa outside the city of Florence by ten young noble men and women who are seeking to escape the ravages of the plague. Boccaccio's skill as a — dramatist is masterfully displayed in these vivid portra... more »its of people from all stations in life, with plots that revel in a bewildering variety of human reactions.
From the Publisher
One of the highlights of Western literature, Boccaccio's Decameron was told in the wake of the 14th Century "Black Death" that swept through Italy, and particularly Boccaccio's native Florence, taking with it his entire family and countless others. The Decameron itself is comprised of 100 "novels" (or "novellas" -- short stories) told over a ten-day period by ten young people: seven ladies, and three young men who flee the plague to a countryside villa, and who vow to tell each other tales each day to pass the time. In the Proem* of the Decameron, Boccaccio's description of the bubonic plague that fell upon Florence in 1348 is one of the most accurate, reliable, and detailed to have survived. The "Brigata," or ten young people, tell the tales of the Decameron, which range from tragic romances to erotic visions, to mysterious and ghostly tales of apparitions and magic.