Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

Women, Enjoyment, and the Defense of Virtue in Boccaccio’s Decameron

  • Book
  • © 2015

Overview

Authors:
  1. Valerio Ferme
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: The New Middle Ages (TNMA)

  • 1785 Accesses

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Valerio Ferme
    Pages 1-11

  3. Galeotto: A Prologue by Way of the Proem

    • Valerio Ferme
    Pages 13-26

  4. Contested Interlude: The Plague

    • Valerio Ferme
    Pages 27-46

  5. Pampinea’s “Honorable” Leadership in the Decameron

    • Valerio Ferme
    Pages 47-86

  6. Sicurano da Finale and Paganino da Mare: of Corsairs, Merchants, and Identity in the Late Middle Ages

    • Valerio Ferme
    Pages 87-107

  7. Giletta of Narbonne: Chastity and Matrimony on the Day of Sexual Excesses

    • Valerio Ferme
    Pages 109-136

  8. “Love and Death”: Male Authority and the Threat of Violence Under Filostrato’s Rule

    • Valerio Ferme
    Pages 137-160

  9. Fiammetta’s Revolution: Honor, Love, and Marriage on Day V

    • Valerio Ferme
    Pages 161-189

  10. Conclusion

    • Valerio Ferme
    Pages 191-196

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 197-248
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Providing new ways of reading Boccaccio's masterpiece, Decameron , Ferme analyzes the dynamics between the women who rule the first half of the story. Peeling back the many narrative layers within and outside of the framework, this book unearths the complications and trickery surrounding gender and death in Boccaccio's world and culture.

Reviews

"Readers will enjoy Ferme's attention to the big picture of the Decameron, including his comprehensive interpretation of the book at all three of its narrative levels. Ferme highlights the tussle in the first half of the book between the authority of women and the limits put on them by society. He is particularly engaging as he explores the dialectic between enjoyment and virtue, transgression and decorum, played out in the form and content of Decameron storytelling." - F. Regina Psaki, The Giustina Family Professor of Italian Language and Literature, University of Oregon, USA

"Through an engaging and thorough analysis of the three main components of the Decameron (Proem, overarching story, and tales), Valerio Ferme redesigns the interpretation of Boccaccio's narrative patterns, while establishing a critical conversation with notable scholars (Branca, Almansi, Segre, Getto, Baratto). The collection of stories risks turning the book into a Galeotto, this study argues, when the salacious plots seem to produce inappropriate relations in the brigata, but the amicable conflicts between its men and women end up providing 'honest enjoyment' for women in love instead." - Alessandro Vettori, Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature, Rutgers University, USA

About the author

Valerie C. Ferme is the Chair of the Department of French & Italian at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation