Decameron

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) — an Italian writer and poet of the Early Renaissance. Subsequent generations among the vast legacy of the writer highlighted primarily his “Decameron”. The work was written between 1348 and 1353; its title can be translated into Russian as “Ten-Day Diary”. The narrative unfolds in 14th century Italy suffering from the plague. Ten young people, seven girls and three young men, take turns telling each other stories, having sheltered in the countryside from the ravaging disease. Boccaccio knew the plague firsthand: he witnessed the horrific consequences of the Black Death as it devastated his native Florence. In the novellas of the “Decameron”, folklore plots and religious motifs intertwine, love in all its manifestations and a thirst for life on the brink of death. Contrary to the writer's expectations, the Italian intelligentsia of the 14th century deemed the “Decameron” immoral, indecent, and vulgar. One of the shortcomings of the work was considered to be that it was written in the vernacular Italian language rather than Latin, the language in which educated people of that time wrote their works. The public condemnation was so great that Boccaccio even thought about burning the manuscript; he was stopped from doing so by the famous Francesco Petrarca. Nevertheless, the text of the “Decameron” was highly regarded by outstanding literati who lived and created much later. Nowadays, the “Decameron” is considered a model of Italian classical literature. It immortalized the name of its author and made a significant contribution to the development of European culture.

In this edition, the “Decameron” is presented in the translation by Professor A. N. Veselovsky (1838–1906). Alexander Nikolaevich graduated from the Department of History and Philology of the Imperial Moscow University, after which he was sent to Europe to study the history of world literature. Abroad, Veselovsky established acquaintances with various scholars and established himself as a pleasant, well-read person and an outstanding scientist. In 1864, he went to Italy, where he spent a lot of time in libraries, studying ancient manuscripts of Italian authors. One of the results of this trip was the translation of Boccaccio's most famous work. Unlike his contemporaries, Veselovsky aimed to convey the author’s narrative style as accurately as possible, making his work the first complete translation of the “Decameron” into Russian. In this book, the text of the “Decameron” translated by Alexander Nikolaevich is adorned with exquisite illustrations by the Italian painter and graphic artist Tito Lessi (1858–1917).