The Decameron (Complete 2 Volumes)

卜伽丘 / 王科一 / 方平Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaAug 2021

Rating 4.5
Word count
479K words
Chapters
115
ISBN
9787532786671

Tags

World Classics Feudal Nobility SatireEarthly LifeOde to LoveCritique of AsceticismHundred TalesFrame NarrativeShort Story CollectionMedieval LoreRenaissancePlague Setting

Summary

The Decameron recounts how, during the plague that swept Florence in 1348, ten young men and women take refuge in a villa and pass their days in feasting; each tells one story a day, and over ten days they tell one hundred stories—hence the title. Many of the tales draw on historical events and medieval legends. In The Decameron Boccaccio celebrates worldly life, praises love as the source of wit and noble feeling, condemns asceticism, and sharply satirizes the decadence of the feudal nobility and the shameless excesses of the Catholic Church. The work employs a frame narrative that links the hundred stories into a unified whole; its language is concise and humorous, and its portrayal of people and things is exquisitely subtle.

The overall design of this illustrated collector's edition of The Decameron is dominated by large areas of contrasting colors, reflecting the style of a realistic, secular literary work. The thirty-two illustrations created by the renowned illustrator Kent especially for the English edition are the book's greatest highlight, with text and image enhancing each other in perfect harmony.

Editor's review

The Decameron is the masterpiece of Giovanni Boccaccio (also commonly rendered as Boccaccio), a writer of the Italian Renaissance. This Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition (ISBN 9787532786671) is a two-volume hardcover set, highly regarded for its authoritative translation and detailed annotations. Composed in the mid-14th century, when the Black Death was sweeping across Europe, the book uses the plague as its frame: ten young men and women flee to a country villa and, over ten days, take turns telling one hundred stories. These tales range widely—from romances of love and witty satire to social critique—and unfold like a vast panorama of late medieval Italian social life.

From a literary-historical perspective, The Decameron is epoch-making in that it shifts narrative focus from God to humanity, boldly celebrating human nature, intelligence, and earthly happiness while sharply mocking the hypocrisy of the Church and feudal moral codes. It is hailed as the first great realistic work in the history of European literature and laid the humanist intellectual foundation for the Renaissance that followed. The Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition is fluent and vivid in language, restoring the original narrative charm and period flavor to the greatest extent, and is well suited for in-depth study.

For modern readers, reading The Decameron is not only a journey into the narrative art of classical literature but also a glimpse of timeless human themes—desire, life and death, wit, and fate. Although the stories were born centuries ago, their insight into human weakness, their questioning of authority, and their affirmation of life's pleasures still provoke strong resonance and reflection today.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the preface or introduction first to understand the historical background of 14th-century Italy and the context of the Black Death; this will greatly help in understanding the origins of the story's frame.
  2. There is no need to read straight through in order; treat it as a story collection and savor a few stories each day, appreciating their varied styles and themes.
  3. While reading, pay attention to the contrasts between the burgher class and the nobility and clergy, and to the agency of female characters; this is key to understanding its humanist spirit.

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. Digital Lab简介
  3. 译本序
  4. 原序
  5. 第一天
  6. 故事第一
  7. 故事第二
  8. 故事第三
  9. 故事第四
  10. 故事第五
  11. 故事第六
  12. 故事第七
  13. 故事第八
  14. 故事第九
  15. 故事第十
  16. 第二天
  17. 故事第一
  18. 故事第二
  19. 故事第三
  20. 故事第四
  21. 故事第五
  22. 故事第六
  23. 故事第七
  24. 故事第八
  25. 故事第九
  26. 故事第十
  27. 第三天
  28. 故事第一
  29. 故事第二
  30. 故事第三
  31. 故事第四
  32. 故事第五
  33. 故事第六
  34. 故事第七
  35. 故事第八
  36. 故事第九
  37. 故事第十
  38. 第四天
  39. 故事第一
  40. 故事第二
  41. 故事第三
  42. 故事第四
  43. 故事第五
  44. 故事第六
  45. 故事第七
  46. 故事第八
  47. 故事第九
  48. 故事第十
  49. 第五天
  50. 故事第一
  51. 故事第二
  52. 故事第三
  53. 故事第四
  54. 故事第五
  55. 故事第六
  56. 故事第七
  57. 故事第八
  58. 故事第九
  59. 故事第十
  60. 第六天
  61. 故事第一
  62. 故事第二
  63. 故事第三
  64. 故事第四
  65. 故事第五
  66. 故事第六
  67. 故事第七
  68. 故事第八
  69. 故事第九
  70. 故事第十
  71. 第七天
  72. 故事第一
  73. 故事第二
  74. 故事第三
  75. 故事第四
  76. 故事第五
  77. 故事第六
  78. 故事第七
  79. 故事第八
  80. 故事第九
  81. 故事第十
  82. 第八天
  83. 故事第一
  84. 故事第二
  85. 故事第三
  86. 故事第四
  87. 故事第五
  88. 故事第六
  89. 故事第七
  90. 故事第八
  91. 故事第九
  92. 故事第十
  93. 第九天
  94. 故事第一
  95. 故事第二
  96. 故事第三
  97. 故事第四
  98. 故事第五
  99. 故事第六
  100. 故事第七
  101. 故事第八
  102. 故事第九
  103. 故事第十
  104. 第十天
  105. 故事第一
  106. 故事第二
  107. 故事第三
  108. 故事第四
  109. 故事第五
  110. 故事第六
  111. 故事第七
  112. 故事第八
  113. 故事第九
  114. 故事第十
  115. 跋

FAQ

What is this book's Douban rating? This Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition has received high praise on Douban, typically scoring above 9.0. Readers generally commend its translation quality, binding design, and detailed annotations, and it is regarded as one of the outstanding Chinese-language editions.
What other important works did Boccaccio write? In addition to The Decameron, Boccaccio's important works include the long narrative poems Filostrato and The Nymph of Fiesole, as well as the scholarly work Life of Dante. He was a key figure of the early Italian Renaissance and is known, together with Petrarch and Dante, as one of the Renaissance's "three great stars."
What makes this edition special? This Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition is translated by an experienced translator, with an accurate and literary rendering. It usually includes an important scholarly introduction, background information, and necessary annotations, helping readers bridge historical and cultural distances and gain a deeper understanding of the text's literary value and intellectual significance.

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About the author

卜伽丘 Author

Giovanni Boccaccio was an important writer of the early Italian Renaissance, though public information about the details of his life is limited. He is known worldwide for The Decameron, a work made up of one hundred stories told by ten young men and women who take refuge in the countryside and take turns narrating tales. The stories deal with themes such as love, wit, fortune, and human nature, and their language is vivid, combining satire with humor. The work often criticizes medieval moral views and the abuses of the Church, while affirming the value of worldly life and human intelligence, showing a clear humanist tendency. The Decameron had a profound influence on later European narrative literature and is regarded as one of the important sources of the short story; it is also commonly listed among the world's great classics. Chinese translations are often published as The Decameron (2 volumes), allowing readers to enjoy this grandly structured collection in full.

王科一 Author

Wang Keyi is a translator whose name commonly appears on Chinese editions of foreign literature. Public information about his life is limited, and his dates of birth and death, native place and educational background are not clearly documented. Judging from the eighteen works recorded in the catalogue, his translations focus mainly on foreign literature and world classics, most notably the Chinese versions of the two English novels Pride and Prejudice and Great Expectations, which have been reprinted many times. This suggests that his translations have circulated widely and been well received by readers. In rendering classic full-length novels, he seeks to preserve the rhythm of the original language and the voices of the characters, writing in clear and fluent prose that balances fidelity with readability, making it easier for general readers to approach the narrative style of nineteenth-century English fiction. These translations have long served as one of the common choices for reading Jane Austen and Charles Dickens in the Chinese-speaking world, acting as a lasting bridge for the appreciation of foreign classics.

方平 Author

Public information about Fang Ping is limited: his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly documented. Judging from the nineteen works held in the library, he was mainly active in the translation of foreign literature, especially English literature and European classics. His representative translations include Shakespeare's Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Othello, as well as Wuthering Heights, The Decameron, and One Thousand and One Nights; there are also collections such as the three-volume Shakespeare and selections related to the "Translated Women's Reading Series." His choices range across drama, fiction, and folk tales, touching on love, tragedy, social manners, and gender, which shows a broad literary scope. These translations have long served Chinese readers seeking access to Western classics and have had a certain influence on the popularization of foreign literature.