HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.
Author photo. Portrait of Giovanni Boccaccio from Il decameron di Messer Giovanni Boccaccio (Firenze : Ciardetti, 1822).

Portrait of Giovanni Boccaccio from Il decameron di Messer Giovanni Boccaccio (Firenze : Ciardetti, 1822).

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375)

Author of The Decameron

Includes the names: BOKACO, Jean Bocace, Jean Boccace, G. Boccaccio, Johan Boccacci, John. BOCCACIO, John Boccaccio, Boccaccio John, Djovani Bokaco, Đovani Bokačo ... (see complete list), Bokkachcho Dzh., Boccaccio/payne, Boccaccio/winwar, Giavonni Boccacio, Boccaccio Giovani, Giovvani Boccacio, BOCACCIO GIOVANNI, Giovanni Boccacio, Giovanni Boccacio, Giovanni Bocaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boddaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio, Giavanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio, Giovanny Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio, Boccaccio And Payne, Gionvanni Boccaccio, Boccaccio/alexander, Dzhovanni Bokachcho, Giovani di Boccaccio, Giovanni di Boccaccio, M. Giovanni Boccaccio, Iohn Bocace (Boccaccio), Джованни Бокаччо, ג'ובני בוקצ'ו, Джованни Боккаччо, Giovanni; Edward Hutton Boccaccio, Guido A. trans. BOCCACCIO. GUARINO, G.H. Giovanni; McWilliam Boccaccio, Джиованни Боккаччо, Boccaccio (translated by J. M. Rigg), Boccaccio; Translator-Richard Aldington, John; Translator Edward Hutton Boccaccio, Giovani Boccaccio - Alexander Translation, Giovani Boccaccio - McWilliams Translation, John (translator) Giovanni; Payne Boccaccio, Dichter Giovanni Boccaccio, Humanist, Italien, Translated By: Daniel Donno Giovanni Boccaccio, and John Payne (Translator) Giovanni Boccaccio, Frances (translator) Giovanni; Winwar Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio translated by G.H. McWilliam, Richard (Translated Giovanni; Aldington Bocaccio, Translated By Richard Aldingto GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO, Giovanni; John Payne (Translated from the Italian, Richard Richard Translated By Aldington Boccaccio, Giovanni/ Boccaccio (edited By Herbert Alexander), Giovanni; Richard Aldington trans.; Rockwell Kent, Herbert (selected b Giovanni; Alexander Boccaccio, Giovanni Boccaccio; Richard Adlington (translated, JOHN BOCCACCIO-THE FIRST REFINER OF ITALIAN PROSE, Richard (translator Giovanni; Aldington Boccaccio, GiovanniBoccaccio;TranslatorG.H.McWilliam;Illustra, Giovanni Boccaccio (Translated and Abridged By Lou, Giovanni. Introduction by Edward Hutton. Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-1375) - Related names Payne Boccacc, Giovanni Boccaccio; Mariangela Causa-Steindler; Th, John Boccaccio; Translator Edward Hutton; Illustra, Giovanni Boccaccio translated by Richard Aldington

MembersReviewsPopularityRatingFavorited   Events   
13,544 (15,444)1971,698 (3.99)23
Although Giovanni Boccaccio was born in France and raised and educated in Naples, where he wrote his first works under the patronage of the French Angevin ruler, Boccaccio always considered himself a Tuscan, like Petrarch and Dante. After Boccaccio returned to Florence in 1340, he witnessed the outbreak of the great plague, or Black Death, in 1348. This provided the setting for his most famous work, the vernacular prose masterpiece Il Decamerone (Decameron) (1353). This collection of 100 short stories, told by 10 Florentines who leave plague-infected Florence for the neighboring hill town of Fiesole, is clear evidence of the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy. The highly finished work exerted a tremendous influence on Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dryden, Keats, and Tennyson even as it established itself as the great classic of Italian fictional prose. Although Chaucer did not mention Boccaccio's name, his Canterbury Tales are clearly modeled on the Decameron. Boccaccio's other important works are a short life of Dante and commentaries on the Divine Comedy; Filocolo (1340) a prose romance; Filostrato (1335), a poem on Troilus and Cressida; and Theseus (1340-41), a poem dealing with the story of Theseus, Palamon, and Arcite. Boccassio's only attempt at writing an epic was a work that Chaucer rendered as his "Knight's Tale." Boccaccio's last work written in Italian was the gloomy, cautionary tale titled The Corbaccio (1355). The Nymph Song (1346), as a counterpiece for the Decameron, demonstrates that it is possible to read the Decameron as an allegory, with the plague representing the spiritual plague of medieval Christianity, viewed from the vantage point of Renaissance humanism. Many of the Decameron tales are indeed paganized versions of medieval sermons about sin and damnation with the morals reversed. After 1363 Boccaccio concentrated on trying to gain enduring fame by writing, in Latin, a series of lives of memorable men and women and a genealogy of the pagan gods. Boccaccio died in 1375. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from The Decameron… (more)
The Decameron (Author) 9,709 copies, 120 reviews
Tales from the Decameron 344 copies, 2 reviews
The Decameron, Volume II 249 copies, 3 reviews
The Decameron, Volume I 223 copies, 5 reviews
Mrs Rosie and the Priest 160 copies, 9 reviews
Life of Dante 154 copies, 3 reviews
Ten tales from the Decameron 68 copies, 1 review
Andreuccio da Perugia (Author) 50 copies, 1 review
Decameron I 35 copies, 1 review
The Filostrato of Giovanni Boccaccio (Author) 31 copies, 1 review
Cuentos del Decamerón 31 copies, 1 review
Slimme vrouwen 26 copies
Teseida (Author) 25 copies
On Poetry 21 copies
Ninfale fiesolano 19 copies, 1 review
Det bedste fra Dekameron 18 copies, 2 reviews
Filocolo 13 copies
Tutte le opere di Giovanni Boccaccio (Author) 10 copies, 1 review
Decamerone 10 copies
Opere 8 copies
Il Decamerone 6 copies
Contes 5 copies, 1 review
Das Dekameron (Auswahl) (Author) 4 copies
Fray Cebolla y otras burlas 3 copies, 1 review
Caccia di Diana (Author) 3 copies
Rime (Author) 3 copies
DEKAMERONI 3 3 copies
Decameros II 2 copies
Le rime 2 copies
CONTES 2 copies
Decameron 2 copies
Dekameron 2 copies
Novellák 2 copies
Opere latine minori (Author) 2 copies
DEKAMERONI 2 2 copies
Caccia di Diana - Rime (Author) 2 copies
Griselda 1 copy
Decàmeron 1 copy
Federigo's Falcon 1 copy, 1 review
Decamerone 1 copy
Deel II 1 copy
Deel I 1 copy
Novelle 1 copy
Dekameron 1 copy
DECAMERÓN 1 copy
Decamerao 1 copy
Histórias eróticas 1 copy, 1 review
Contes 1 copy
Dekamerone 1 copy
BANNED 1 copy
Novelle 1 copy
Rime 1 copy
Dekameron, bind 3 1 copy, 1 review
Decâmeron I 1 copy, 1 review
Decamreon 1 copy
Critical Theory Since Plato (Contributor, some editions) 391 copies, 1 review
The Penguin Book of International Gay Writing (Contributor) 174 copies, 2 reviews
3 Plays: Cymbeline; Pericles; The Two Noble Kinsman (Contributor) 112 copies, 2 reviews
Great Italian Short Stories (Contributor) 42 copies, 2 reviews
All verdens fortellere (Contributor, some editions) 15 copies, 1 review

Top members (books)

cipeciop (48), kpclarke (42), ciabanza (38), archivomorero (21), erathostenes (19), ItalCulturalCenter (18), DGRossetti (15), darmenti (14), Biblioteca_Leini (14), mandojoe (13), Randy_Hierodule (12), seite (12), iacc (10), Italstudies (10) — more

Recently added

valivergara (1), jose.calero.gt (1), NonnaLuisa (3), gmurphy (1), Nightshelf (1), turnerd (1), LaRayadelPalancar (2), TigerBeast79 (1), Psmithers (2)

Legacy Libraries

Member favorites

14th century (295) anthology (120) biography (57) Black Death (76) Boccaccio (118) classic (298) classic literature (86) classics (426) erotica (40) fiction (1,270) Florence (84) Folio Society (72) Franklin Library (37) hardcover (41) history (95) humor (46) Italian (336) Italian fiction (53) Italian literature (685) Italy (415) literary criticism (64) literature (646) medieval (350) medieval literature (227) Middle Ages (134) narrativa (38) non-fiction (56) novel (80) own (52) philosophy (51) plague (131) poetry (176) read (59) Renaissance (209) short stories (521) stories (115) to-read (383) translated (42) translation (103) unread (90)
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical name
Legal name
Other names
Date of birth
Date of death
Burial location
Gender
Nationality
Country (for map)
Birthplace
Place of death
Cause of death
Places of residence
Education
Occupations
Relationships
Agents
Organizations
Information from the Finnish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Awards and honors
Short biography
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Boccaccio wrote a number of notable works, including The Decameron and On Famous Women. He wrote his imaginative literature mostly in Tuscan vernacular, as well as other works in Latin, and is particularly noted for his realistic dialogue which differed from that of his contemporaries, medieval writers who usually followed formulaic models for character and plot.
Disambiguation notice

LibraryThing Early Reviewers Alum

Giovanni Boccaccio's book The Banned Books Compendium: 32 Classic Forbidden Books was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Member ratings

Average: (3.99)
0.5
1 12
1.5 5
2 58
2.5 16
3 249
3.5 68
4 511
4.5 59
5 425

Author pictures (5)

(see all 5 author pictures)

Improve this author

Combine/separate works

Author division

Giovanni Boccaccio is currently considered a "single author." If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author.

Includes

Giovanni Boccaccio is composed of 77 names. You can examine and separate out names.

Combine with…

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 194,964,799 books! | Top bar: Always visible