"The Decameron" by Giovanni Boccaccio (selected readings pt. 2)

The reading for the rest of the Decameron follows the similar format and contains similar themes from the first part of the reading. I shall not bore you by repeating my last post.

Here is a big word from class: "paratextual mechanics"
or "forming apparatus." This refers to the surrounding context of the story at hand, and is enormously helpful in understanding the motivation of a narrative. In the Decameron, we can read the plague as the embodiment of chaos, while the group of ten kids provide us a microcosm of contemporary moral views. Furthermore, there was a real anxiety during Boccaccio's time about the vulgar, corrupting nature of books, especially when women are the one's reading. Even if a story isn't as explicit as any of Boccacio's, most tales written for entertainment build up to a catharsis, a release, a moment where the story ends and the plot is fulfilled. What is especially terrifying is how personal of an activity reading is. Those who are in positions of power, whether of the state or of the household, felt that the intimate act of reading silently could potentially stir readers to scheme and rebel against higher powers.

The other thing discussed was the nature of love: fleeting; unavoidable; coping mechanism; we submit to it. We could even think of this in terms of a love versus ingenuity relation. Ingenuity signifies 'art' and 'creativity,' and the word 'art' is related to 'artifice' and 'artificial.' The word love is loaded and carries with it numerous different interpretations.

Finally, the other major point is the power relationships found in these tales; specifically, the narrative form Boccaccio writes of by creating a relation between the duped and the deceiver (Bernabo and Ambrogliuo in II. 9 is a good example). Is deception motivated by love, or vice versa? In the stories, who gets the last laugh? These are some useful ideas to bear in mind.