Bawdy and moving, hilarious and reflective: these stories offer the very best of Boccaccio’s Decameron—an inspiration for the Netflix dark comedy The Decameron—in a brilliant, playful new translation.
“The Decameron reads in some ways as a guide to social distancing and self-isolation.” —The New York Times
In the early summer of the year 1348, as a terrible plague ravages the city, ten charming young Florentines take refuge in country villas to tell each other stories—one hundred stories of love, adventure, and surprising twists of fortune that later inspired Chaucer, Keats, and Shakespeare. Now, this hugely enjoyable volume collects the best stories of Boccaccio's masterwork in a fresh, accessible new translation by Peter Hainsworth. It includes such celebrated, thought-provoking tales as "Isabella and the Pot of Basil" (famously adapted by Keats) and "Patient Griselda" alongside many boisterous and daring stories featuring faithless wives, philandering priests, and curious nuns. Written in an early Florentine dialect and influencing scores of literature that followed, The Decameron is a masterpiece of classical Italian prose.
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75) was an Italian author and poet who has long been honored—along with Petrarch and Dante—as one of the three fathers of Italian literature. View titles by Giovanni Boccaccio
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“The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), made a great impression on me. . . . Ten youths—seven women and three men—take turns telling stories for 10 days. At around the age of 16, I found it reassuring that Boccaccio, in conceiving his narrators, had made most of them women. Here was a great writer, the father of the modern story, presenting seven great female narrators. There was something to hope for. . . . The seven female narrators of the Decameron should never again need to rely on the great Giovanni Boccaccio to express themselves. . . . The female story, told with increasing skill, increasingly widespread and unapologetic, is what must now assume power.” —Elena Ferrante, The New York Times
Bawdy and moving, hilarious and reflective: these stories offer the very best of Boccaccio’s Decameron—an inspiration for the Netflix dark comedy The Decameron—in a brilliant, playful new translation.
“The Decameron reads in some ways as a guide to social distancing and self-isolation.” —The New York Times
In the early summer of the year 1348, as a terrible plague ravages the city, ten charming young Florentines take refuge in country villas to tell each other stories—one hundred stories of love, adventure, and surprising twists of fortune that later inspired Chaucer, Keats, and Shakespeare. Now, this hugely enjoyable volume collects the best stories of Boccaccio's masterwork in a fresh, accessible new translation by Peter Hainsworth. It includes such celebrated, thought-provoking tales as "Isabella and the Pot of Basil" (famously adapted by Keats) and "Patient Griselda" alongside many boisterous and daring stories featuring faithless wives, philandering priests, and curious nuns. Written in an early Florentine dialect and influencing scores of literature that followed, The Decameron is a masterpiece of classical Italian prose.
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Creators
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75) was an Italian author and poet who has long been honored—along with Petrarch and Dante—as one of the three fathers of Italian literature. View titles by Giovanni Boccaccio
Rights
Available for sale exclusive:
• Canada
• Guam
• Minor Outl.Ins.
• North Mariana
• Philippines
• Puerto Rico
• Samoa,American
• US Virgin Is.
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Available for sale non-exclusive:
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• Aland Islands
• Albania
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• Andorra
• Angola
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• Antarctica
• Argentina
• Armenia
• Aruba
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Bahrain
• Belarus
• Belgium
• Benin
• Bhutan
• Bolivia
• Bonaire, Saba
• Bosnia Herzeg.
• Bouvet Island
• Brazil
• Bulgaria
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cambodia
• Cameroon
• Cape Verde
• Centr.Afr.Rep.
• Chad
• Chile
• China
• Colombia
• Comoro Is.
• Congo
• Cook Islands
• Costa Rica
• Croatia
• Cuba
• Curacao
• Czech Republic
• Dem. Rep. Congo
• Denmark
• Djibouti
• Dominican Rep.
• Ecuador
• Egypt
• El Salvador
• Equatorial Gui.
• Eritrea
• Estonia
• Ethiopia
• Faroe Islands
• Finland
• France
• Fren.Polynesia
• French Guinea
• Gabon
• Georgia
• Germany
• Greece
• Greenland
• Guadeloupe
• Guatemala
• Guinea Republic
• Guinea-Bissau
• Haiti
• Heard/McDon.Isl
• Honduras
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Iraq
• Israel
• Italy
• Ivory Coast
• Japan
• Jordan
• Kazakhstan
• Kuwait
• Kyrgyzstan
• Laos
• Latvia
• Lebanon
• Liberia
• Libya
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Macau
• Macedonia
• Madagascar
• Maldives
• Mali
• Marshall island
• Martinique
• Mauritania
• Mayotte
• Mexico
• Micronesia
• Moldavia
• Monaco
• Mongolia
• Montenegro
• Morocco
• Myanmar
• Nepal
• Netherlands
• New Caledonia
• Nicaragua
• Niger
• Niue
• Norfolk Island
• North Korea
• Norway
• Oman
• Palau
• Palestinian Ter
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Poland
• Portugal
• Qatar
• Reunion Island
• Romania
• Russian Fed.
• Rwanda
• Saint Martin
• San Marino
• SaoTome Princip
• Saudi Arabia
• Senegal
• Serbia
• Singapore
• Sint Maarten
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• South Korea
• South Sudan
• Spain
• St Barthelemy
• St.Pier,Miquel.
• Sth Terr. Franc
• Sudan
• Suriname
• Svalbard
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Syria
• Tadschikistan
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Timor-Leste
• Togo
• Tokelau Islands
• Tunisia
• Turkey
• Turkmenistan
• Ukraine
• Unit.Arab Emir.
• Uruguay
• Uzbekistan
• Vatican City
• Venezuela
• Vietnam
• Wallis,Futuna
• West Saharan
• Western Samoa
• Yemen
Not available for sale:
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• Bangladesh
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• Bermuda
• Botswana
• Brit.Ind.Oc.Ter
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• Cayman Islands
• Christmas Islnd
• Cocos Islands
• Cyprus
• Dominica
• Falkland Islnds
• Fiji
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Gibraltar
• Grenada
• Guernsey
• Guyana
• India
• Ireland
• Isle of Man
• Jamaica
• Jersey
• Kenya
• Kiribati
• Lesotho
• Malawi
• Malaysia
• Malta
• Mauritius
• Montserrat
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Nauru
• New Zealand
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• PapuaNewGuinea
• Pitcairn Islnds
• S. Sandwich Ins
• Seychelles
• Sierra Leone
• Solomon Islands
• Somalia
• South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• St. Helena
• St. Lucia
• St. Vincent
• St.Chr.,Nevis
• Swaziland
• Tanzania
• Tonga
• Trinidad,Tobago
• Turks&Caicos Is
• Tuvalu
• Uganda
• United Kingdom
• Vanuatu
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe
Praise
“The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), made a great impression on me. . . . Ten youths—seven women and three men—take turns telling stories for 10 days. At around the age of 16, I found it reassuring that Boccaccio, in conceiving his narrators, had made most of them women. Here was a great writer, the father of the modern story, presenting seven great female narrators. There was something to hope for. . . . The seven female narrators of the Decameron should never again need to rely on the great Giovanni Boccaccio to express themselves. . . . The female story, told with increasing skill, increasingly widespread and unapologetic, is what must now assume power.” —Elena Ferrante, The New York Times
