The University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226820941
An exploration of the life and career of Giovanni Boccaccio, one of Italy’s most celebrated writers. This book examines his family background and tumultuous professional path, revealing how his personal experiences shaped masterpieces such as The Decameron.
Excerpt:
He was curious as a man of letters, always in search of the new, and he was curious as a careful observer of the social environments he inhabited. Over the course of his life, he was attracted by vastly different areas of knowledge, and, as a writer, he experimented with a great number of literary genres; he was a man of court, a merchant, and an administrator of the Comune, as the Florentine municipal (communal) government was known; he worked to spread literature written in the vernacular, and he played an active role in elite humanist circles. His great open-mindedness was accompanied by an extraordinary capacity to receive, absorb, and introject. Thanks to this innate disposition, Boccaccio became the most versatile and experimental writer of his age.
Who is this book for?
A translation of the 2019 book Boccaccio: Fragilità di un genio, this volume provides a detailed exploration of the personal and professional life of the famed Renaissance writer. Essential reading for anyone interested in Boccaccio or medieval Italian literature.
“This painstakingly researched biography, scrupulously pieced together from numerous sources, warrants praise for many reasons, but for me as a historian it holds an especial significance. Given the scarcity of medieval documentation, it’s very rare for historians to be able to recreate the lives of individuals who did not exist at the very apex of society (queens, lords or princes, etc.). Those further down the social pyramid simply lack the documentation for us to gain any real insight into their lives. To be fair, Giovanni didn’t exist at the bottom of society and his comments about the brutishness of peasants make his views on this matter perfectly clear, yet the level of detail gathered on his life here is remarkable.” ~ review by Nicholas Morton in Engelsberg Ideas
The Author
Marco Santagata was professor of Italian literature at the University of Pisa and one of the leading scholars about Boccaccio and other early Renaissance writers. He passed away in the year 2000.
Boccaccio: A Biography
By Marco Santagata
Translated by Emlyn Eisenach
The University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226820941
An exploration of the life and career of Giovanni Boccaccio, one of Italy’s most celebrated writers. This book examines his family background and tumultuous professional path, revealing how his personal experiences shaped masterpieces such as The Decameron.
Excerpt:
He was curious as a man of letters, always in search of the new, and he was curious as a careful observer of the social environments he inhabited. Over the course of his life, he was attracted by vastly different areas of knowledge, and, as a writer, he experimented with a great number of literary genres; he was a man of court, a merchant, and an administrator of the Comune, as the Florentine municipal (communal) government was known; he worked to spread literature written in the vernacular, and he played an active role in elite humanist circles. His great open-mindedness was accompanied by an extraordinary capacity to receive, absorb, and introject. Thanks to this innate disposition, Boccaccio became the most versatile and experimental writer of his age.
Who is this book for?
A translation of the 2019 book Boccaccio: Fragilità di un genio, this volume provides a detailed exploration of the personal and professional life of the famed Renaissance writer. Essential reading for anyone interested in Boccaccio or medieval Italian literature.
“This painstakingly researched biography, scrupulously pieced together from numerous sources, warrants praise for many reasons, but for me as a historian it holds an especial significance. Given the scarcity of medieval documentation, it’s very rare for historians to be able to recreate the lives of individuals who did not exist at the very apex of society (queens, lords or princes, etc.). Those further down the social pyramid simply lack the documentation for us to gain any real insight into their lives. To be fair, Giovanni didn’t exist at the bottom of society and his comments about the brutishness of peasants make his views on this matter perfectly clear, yet the level of detail gathered on his life here is remarkable.” ~ review by Nicholas Morton in Engelsberg Ideas
The Author
Marco Santagata was professor of Italian literature at the University of Pisa and one of the leading scholars about Boccaccio and other early Renaissance writers. He passed away in the year 2000.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website.
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