All Formats & Editions

The Decameron (c.1351) was written in the wake of the Black Death, a shattering epidemic which had shaken Florence's confident entrepreneurial society to its core.

Set against the background of the Black Death of 1348, Giovanni Boccaccio's undisputed masterpiece recaptures both the tragedies and comedies of medieval life and is surely one of the greatest achievements in the history of literature.

Winner of the 2014 PEN USA Literary Award for Translation

This Norton Critical Edition includes:
- Fifty-five judiciously chosen stories from Wayne A. Rebhorn's translation of The Decameron.
- Introductory materials and explanatory footnotes by Wayne A. Rebhorn,... Read Full Overview

The Decameron, is a collection of novellas by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375).The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence... Read Full Overview

Boccaccio's collection of bawdy, comic and sometimes tragic tales, which had an enormous influence on English literature, notably on Chaucer.

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... Read Full Overview

INSPIRATION FOR THE NETFLIX SERIES - In the summer of 1348, with the plague ravaging Florence, ten young men and women take refuge in the countryside, where they entertain themselves with tales of love, death, and corruption, featuring a host of characters, from lascivious... Read Full Overview