"The Decameron" in translation means the book of ten days and its composed out of hundred novels with different themes and content. The plot is divided into ten days and all the novels are linked by the plague which happened in Florence in 1348. "The Decameron" can be perceived as the start of the European prose. … [Read more...] about The Decameron
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author who wrote during Renaissance. He was born in 1313 in Paris to a salesman from Florence Boccaccio and a French noblewoman.
His father brought him to Florence where he planned on continuing his work and because of that he sent Boccaccio to Naples in 1325 so he could get the necessary education in banking to be able to take on his father’s business.
He rejected his father’s proposal, left law school and enjoyed a lifestyle more involved in art. He also started writing and disappoints his father even more.
His first works came to life in Florence and they were: "Filocolo" and novels in verses "Teseida" and "Filostrato".
In 1340 his father had a financial breakdown which meant the end of the life as he knew it because he was cut off from his financial resources. He was forced to come to Florence where he became a diplomat. During his work he never stopped writing and he became an esteemed author.
He also published "Ninfale Fiesolano", "Ninfale d’Ameto", a love novel "Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta" and many scientific works in Latin. He was also so infatuated with Dante that he decided to write his biography and an comment on the 17th canto of "The Divine Comedy".
In 1348 plague came to Florence and he lost his father. The plague was his inspiration for "The Decameron" which made him famous worldwide. This book has hundred novels and they are filled with optimism.
In 1362 he went through a spiritual crisis and even thought about giving up on writing. He thought about death more often and he became more introverted. Boccaccio died in 1375 in Certaldo.
