Ron Larson

Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron Ron Larson

"The Decameron" is surely one of the greatest achievements in the history of literature. At least three of Shakespeare's plays were directly influenced by stories in "The Decameron." This classic is read, discussed and appreciated in the university classroom but not so much anywhere else. Mark Twain once remarked that "a classic is book that people praise but don't read." Twain is suggesting that such books are often too long and thus perhaps too boring for the average reader. Not counting the introductory notes, "The Decameron" has nearly 800 pages. My book is for the average reader. It has just a little over 100 pages, and I have adapted and interpreted each of Boccaccio's stories in rhyme from eight to twenty lines with the hope that it will add to the appeal of the average reader, and that he will therefore be encouraged to read the entire work. Boccaccio did not title his tales, so I took the liberty of doing so. My source was "Giovanni Boccaccio's "The Decameron," A Signet Classic, trans. Peter Bondanella & Mark Musa, New York, 1982.