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| Benozzo Gozzoli, "Procession of the Magi," Medici Riccardi Palace, 1449-1459 |
October 31, 2010
Dear God,
Please let The Decameron be over soon. As you know, the conceit of the novel is that ten beautiful courtiers are running from The Black Death that swept through 14th century Florence and take refuge in nearby country estates. They amuse each other by telling ten stories for ten days. That's 100 stories, God, and I am growing restless. I yearn for psychological development. (Do you hear me whining that I want to read Jonathan Franzen's Freedom?)
I am on Day Five. Please grant me patience.
Love,
Kathy
November 5, 2010
My prayers have been answered! The Decameron is finished. Well, I made it through Day Seven and decided that I didn't have much to learn from 30 more tales. The themes of this very elegant novel are Love, Intelligence and Fortune. The trails of Love can be mitigated by the intervention of either Intelligence or Fortune. Boccaccio believed in pleasure, and the morality of the tales is neutral. This is such a bizarre world to me, not a German Lutheran in sight! As in the Viking sagas, there is not much psychological examination of the characters. People are defined by events. Much fun is had at the expense of the Catholic Church (no news there), and Boccaccio drives home the point that the world is not as it seems. Appearances can't be trusted.
The translator's introduction is truly masterful. Tick! Mark this off The List. On to contemporary fiction.
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