Full Description
In Boccaccio Defends Literature, Brenda Deen Schildgen contends that Giovanni Boccaccio's significant contribution to literary history remains underappreciated. The book asserts that Boccaccio refuted the detractors that condemned poetry as immoral, irrational, and even demonic, highlighting instead its aesthetic and cathartic ability to restore equilibrium, provoke thought, and provide solace and entertainment.
The book explores how, despite often being dismissed for his morally dubious tales, Boccaccio dedicated himself to defending the legacy of the ancients, endorsing vernacular and secular literature, and cementing the reputations of Dante and Petrarch. It reveals how he forged a wholly new direction for literary prose fiction, driven by his commitment to humanistic studies and admiration for literary achievement. Without moral or spiritual hesitation, Boccaccio asserted that literature - whether pagan or Christian - was an autonomous form of knowledge, a stance he maintained from the 1350s to the end of his life.
Contesting the arguments of moralists who sought to ban books, Schildgen demonstrates that Boccaccio advocated for the independence of readers, asserting that they, not writers, bore the responsibility for their responses to literature. Boccaccio Defends Literature thus unveils Boccaccio as a steadfast defender of the enduring relevance of literature.
Contents
Primary Texts
Abbreviations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Genealogy of the Gods Books 14 and 15 and the Defence of Poetry
2. Petrarch versus Boccaccio on Poetry
3. Defensio and Laudatio: Boccaccio and the Poetry of Others
4. The Decameron in Dialogue with the Genealogy of the Gods: How the Decameron Defends Vernacular Prose Fiction - Part 1
5. The Decameron in Dialogue with the Genealogy of the Gods: How the Decameron Defends Vernacular Prose Fiction - Part 2
Conclusion
Appendix: Comic Tales in the Decameron
Notes
Bibliography
Index
