Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio is considered as one of the famous Italian writer and also a humanist,and he is also considered as one of the great authors of all time in the history.
He was born in Paris and he is a son of a Florentine merchant and a French noblewoman.In 1323 he was sent to Naples for his studies, i.e., accounting.But He quit accounting for canon law and he further gave up canon law as he was interested in classical and scientific studies.
He also had opportunity to take part in life of the court of Robert d’Anjou,who was the king of Naples.Inspired by the great deal of work by Giovanni Boccaccio, the kings daughter Maria de Conti d’Aquino married him.
In 1340 he returned to France and he also performed various diplomatic services for the city government,the turning point in his life came in 1350, when he met the famous poet and humanist Petrarch,and he developed a close friendship until the death of Petrarch in 1374.
A friend of Naples invited Boccaccio to Naples in 1362,and he also promised him the patronage of Queen Joanna of that city. A cold reception was given at the court of the queen which made him to seek about the hospitality of Petrarch
He also rejected Petrarch’s offer of a home and after that he returned to his estate in Certaldo, which is near Florence.
During his last years he started to become religious meditation.In 1372 he was appointment lecturer on Dante.
He also gave series of lectures inspite of his illness,which interrupted him often and eventually he died the next year in 1735.
The most important work of Boccaccio is Il Decamerone, which is called as the Ten Days’ Work, and it was begun in 1348 and completed after 9 years in 1353 and it was translated into English,in 1620 as The Decameron.
This work is nothing but a collection of 100 witty, high-spirited stories which is within a framework.In this work
Boccaccio explains that a group of friends,which consists of 3 men and 7 women had escaped from the city due an outbreak of the plague and they go to a country called villa outside Florence as refuge.
In that country they begin to entertain one another for over 10 days and they entertain with a series of stories told said by each member of the party and hence the name of his work is described as Ten Days’ Work.
During these 10 days, everyday the story telling usually ends with a canzone which represents some of Boccaccio’s most exquisite lyric poetry.And finally at the conclusion of the 100th tale,they returned to their home when the plague outbreak was over.
This work "The Decameron" is considered as the finest prose masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance and it is famous for the richness and variety of the tales, that includes both humor and sorrow and this also known for brilliance of the craftsmanship, and also for its penetrating character analysis.
Boccaccio gathered many material from many sources to complete this work and these includes
i)The French fabliau
ii)Greek and Latin classics
iii)Folklore and
iv)Observations of contemporary Italian life.
Apart from this historic work other work of Boccaccio includes
i)Romance Il filocolo, called as circa in 1336
ii)L’amorosa Fiammetta, called as Amorous Fiammetta in 1343-44
iii)Il corbaccio, called as The Old Crow, in 1354
The first two stories mentioned above are the stories of rejected lovers.
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