Christopher Whyte (Author of The Gay Demeron)

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY DECAMERON

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kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="The skill of genuy featur promently the Demeron. So do unght sex." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">The skill of genuy featur promently the Demeron. So do unght sex.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Illtratn by Anna and Elena Balbso</span></div></figure></div><p>In 1348, the Black Death, the most vastatg epimic European history, swept across the ntent. Gvanni Boccc (1313-75), at the begng of his famo Demeron, scrib s effects on his cy, Florence. Many people jt dropped ad the street. Others died their ho, often unattend by their fai. Hbands and wiv, fearg fectn, sat and prayed separate rooms. Mothers walked away om their children and closed the door. In the words of a new translatn of the Demeron (Norton), by Wayne A. Rebhorn, a specialist Renaissance lerature at the Universy of Texas, the Florent</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>rried the bodi of the recently ceased out of their ho and put them down by the ont doors, where anyone passg by, pecially the morng, uld have seen them by the thoands. . . . When all the grav were full, enormo trench were dug the cemeteri of the church, to which the new arrivals were put by the hundreds, stowed layer upon layer like merchandise ships, each one vered wh a ltle earth, until the top of the trench was reached.</p></div></blockquote><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Shops stood empty. Church shut down. An timated sixty per cent of the populatn of Florence and the surroundg untrysi died.</p><p class="paywall">And so begs the Demeron. Seven young ladi, iends—Pampea, Filomena, Neifile, Fiammetta, Elissa, Lretta, and Eia—meet after Mass. They range age om eighteen to twenty-eight, and they are all of genteel birth. Let’s get out of here, Pampea, the elst, says. Let’s go to our untry tat. The other women say that they’d love to, but they thk they should brg some men along. Soon, they assemble three gentlemen lked to them by kship or by affectn—Filostrato, Dneo, and Panfilo—and the ten young people mp at dawn for the untrysi.</p><p class="paywall">They agree on a route. In the morng and the eveng, they will take walks, sg songs, and eat exquise meals, wh fe w, goln and red. In between, they will s together and each will tell a story on a theme set for the day: generosy, magnanimy, cleverns, etc. They will stay together for two weeks. Two days mt be voted to personal obligatns, and two to relig duti. That leav ten days. Ten tal tim ten days: at the end, they will have a hundred stori. That llectn, wh var troductns and mentari, is the Demeron.</p><p class="paywall">Boccc wrote the book between 1348 and 1352, when the valu of the Middle Ag (valor, fah, transcennce) were yieldg to those of the Renaissance (enjoyment, bs, the real). The Middle Ag were by no means over. Boccc’s young ladi do not assemble real meadows, where bugs might crawl up their drs. They gather ial fields. Birds sg; jasme perfum the air. The animals don’t know to be aaid of humans: ltle rabbs e and s wh the young people. This is the <em>loc amoen</em>, or “pleasant place,” of ancient and medieval pastoral poetry. It is a sort of paradise, and that is what is based on: En.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Social relatns, too, are ialized, and imbued wh the nventns of medieval urtly love. The Demeron has not jt one ame—the young people the untrysi—but two. In the outer one, Boccc speaks to the rear directly. He is wrg this book, he says, for ladi afflicted by love: “Grac ladi,” “amiable ladi,” the narrators beg. And, whatever the day’s theme, love figur promently perhaps ne out of ten tal. As the songs of the medieval troubadours, love ennobl you. In one story, a young man known lolly as “stupid ass” no sooner falls love than he begs to drs elegantly and to study philosophy.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Boccc was not a noble; he was one of the <em>nuova gente</em>, the merntile middle class, whose steady rise sce the twelfth century the nobl feared and plored. Boccc’s father, Boccco di Chello, was a merchant, and he expected Gvanni to jo the tra. Gvanni was born illegimate, but Boccco acknowledged him. When the boy was thirteen, Boccco moved om Florence to Napl to work for an important untg hoe, and he took his son wh him, to learn the bs: receive clients, oversee ventory, and the like. Boccc did not enjoy this work, and so his dulgent father paid for him to go to universy, to study non law. Boccc didn’t like that, eher, but durg this time he read wily. (The Demeron is, unostentatly, a very learned book.) He also began to wre: romanc verse and prose, mostly. Wh those lerary creds, pl his father’s ntacts, he gaed entry to Napl’s Angev urt, whose refements seeped to his work. He later said that he had never wanted to be anythg but a poet. In Napl, he beme one, of the late-medieval stripe. The were the happit years of his life.</p><p class="paywall">When he was his late twenti, they me to an end. Boccco had bs revers. He and Gvanni returned to Florence, which, at that time, was the pal of Italian merntilism. And so, om the exalted realm of urt manners and medieval allegory, Boccc dropped down to a i of lculatn and ambn and realism—of merchants, after a day’s work, stg around the fire at an n, wh their boots on the grate, talkg bs and tradg stori. The young man no doubt reiled, and then, eventually, he acclimated. Ined, on the evince of the Demeron, he me to love this rough-and-tumble world. The majory of the tal are about people of the merchant class, and the skill they most feature is the one most prized by that class, <em>gegno:</em> cleverns, w, thkg on your feet. Only on four of the ten days is cleverns the clared theme, but many stori told on the other days are also about that. Boccc still liked gentlefolk, pecially highborn ladi, wh cheeks like ros, but is their mentari on the tal—and, for the most part, only then—that the Demeron be borg. The prol are what give the book s richns and humor and val force.A famo tribute to genuy is the story of Peronella, told by Filostrato. Peronella sps wool for a livg, and her hband is a stonemason. She is pretty, and soon she has a lover, Giannello. One morng after the hband has gone to work, Peronella and Giannello are enjoyg each other’s pany when sudnly the hband returns. There is a barrel the hoe, and Peronella tells Giannello to hi . When the hband enters, she begs loudly beratg him:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>What’s the story here? Why have you e back home so early like this? It seems to me, seeg you there wh your tools your hands, that you want to take the day off. If you rry on like this, how are we gog to live? Where are we supposed to get our bread om?</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Calm down, the hband says. We’ve had a wdfall. See that barrel over there? Well, he jt sold for five silver duts. Call off the al, Peronella says. <em>She</em> has sold the barrel for seven duts, and the man who bought is right now si the barrel, checkg s ndn. Out pops Giannello, claimg that the si of the barrel needs to be scraped if he is to buy . The hband climbs and go to work. Peronella leans over the top of the barrel and giv him orrs: “Scrape here, and here, and over there.” As she bends over, Giannello, whose bs wh Peronella that morng had been terpted, lifts her skirt om behd. After the three have fished, simultaneoly, Giannello pays the hband the seven duts and, a lovely, tart last sentence, gets him to take the barrel to his hoe.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">What Peronella and Giannello are up to as the hband cleans the barrel is Boccc’s other ma theme: unght sex, of a kd that has probably not been wholly prehensible to Wtern people sce the Reformatn. Today’s dience n perhaps unrstand the adultery that is rampant the Demeron, pecially sce, at that time, most marriag were still arranged by the fai. And morn rears n probably also sympathize wh the young people the Demeron who claim that they have a right, by reason of their age, to bed whomever they n. But many rears, however amed, have also been taken aback by tal like Peronella’s, and the Demeron overflows wh such material. This is probably the dirtit great book the Wtern non.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">Some of the unchaste are punished. Tancredi, the prce of Salerno, disverg that his dghter is havg an affair wh one of his valets, orrs that the man be strangled, and his heart cut out. He then puts the heart a goln chalice and sends to his dghter. She unflchgly rais the bloody an to her mouth, kiss , puts back the cup, pours poison over , drks, and di. There are other terrible nclns—fentratn, patn, disembowelment—but they have a certa élan, as Jabean tragedy. Most important, the miscreants feel no guilt. There may be sorrows, but not that sorrow.</p><p class="paywall">Even ls do unpunished lovers feel remorse. They often live happily and, spe their former nstancy, fahfully ever after, eher meetg equently or even, by some means, marryg. Boccc wr of one uple, “Whout ever payg attentn to holy days and vigils or observg Lent, the two of them had a jolly life together, workg away at as long as their legs uld support them.”</p><p class="paywall">The domant not of the Demeron are this realism and cheer and disorrls, but, whatever you say about the book, somethg else aris to ntradict you. Though Boccc sists on Renaissance earths, he mak room for elegant medievalisms. The young people often jo hands and do the <em>rola</em>, a circle dance born of the Middle Ag. They also, now and then, between tal, liver long, ornate speech, full of medieval rhetoril flourish. You may weary of the refements and long to get back to the nice, tal, but the tensn between the two mos is fundamental to the Demeron.</p><p class="paywall">Another nflict has to do wh relign. The young people sometim make arnt profsns of fah. Yet Boccc is not aaid of blasphemy—at one pot, he refers to a man’s erectn as “the rurrectn of the flh”—and there is almost nothg he sists on more than the rptn of the clergy. They are stupid and lazy. Your wiv are not safe wh them. They smell like goats. In one story, the merchant Giannotto di Civignì tri to get his Jewish iend Abraham to nvert to Christiany. Abraham says that he mt first go to Rome, to observe the clergy and see if they lead holy liv. This worri Giannotto. He fears that Abraham will disver how bched the prits are. And that is exactly what happens. Abraham, returng home, reports that the Roman clergy are all sots, satyrs, and sodom. Then he v Giannotto to go wh him to church, where he tends to be baptized. If the Roman church surviv, he says, spe the bchery of s reprentativ, then mt be endorsed by the Holy Spir, and he wants to jo the wng team.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="n09p"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="1imr3b"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Boccc’s msage about the clergy is perhaps not tly double—fah is not the same as s reprentativ—but his attu toward women is genuely puzzlg. Women are absolutely central to the Demeron, and they are rourceful, direct, and equently scy. In the words of the medievalist Thomas Berg, woman as “victim of man’s lt, exploed, betrayed, and abandoned, who has ntributed so many pathetic pag to world lerature is simply not found the Demeron.” The ladi have a long afterlife. To ce jt the most famo of them, there would be no Rosald “As You Like It,” no Beatrice “Much Ado About Nothg” whout the precent of Peronella and her sisterhood.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Yet women are also repeatedly famed the Demeron. They are “fickle, quarrelsome, spic, weak, and fearful.” (It is a woman, Filomena, who says this.) They are tirelsly ltful. Strong men may imperil their health by tryg to fulfill their sexual mands. So, orr for life to proceed lmly, women mt subm to men and, above all, be chaste—the very thg that Boccc’s hero so seldom are. Those who do not obey their hbands should be beaten. (Aga, this is a woman speakg.)</p><p class="paywall">In support of that view, Boccc ends his book wh what has bee the famo story of “patient Griselda.” Gualtieri, the Marquis of Saluzzo, has no wish to marry, but his subjects prsure him. So he tak, as a wife, a peasant girl, Griselda. In time, Griselda giv birth to a dghter and a son. Both babi are taken away om her, wh the strong suggtn that they will be put to ath. Griselda mak no prott. So Gualtieri tightens the screw. He clar that he needs a noble wife, not a peasant. Stoilly, Griselda returns to her father’s hoe, leavg even her drs behd, sce she feels that they belong to her hband. Soon Gualtieri lls her back, sayg that he needs her to oversee the preparatns for the weddg. “Gualtieri’s words pierced Griselda’s heart like so many kniv,” but she agre. On the weddg day, a boy and a girl appear whom Griselda do not know. Gualtieri troduc the girl as his bri-to-be. Griselda prais her. Fally, Gualtieri n go on no longer. He tells Griselda that the boy and the girl are her children (he had them brought up by klk Bologna), and that he is takg Griselda back, more beloved now: “I wanted to teach you how to be a wife”—that is, submissive.</p><p class="paywall">Hearg this, Gualtieri’s urtiers all clare that he is “very wise,” if harsh. Yet the tale’s teller, Dneo, fish by sayg of Gualtieri that perhaps “ would have served him right if, stead, he had n to the kd of woman who, upon beg thrown out of the hoe her shift, would have found some guy to give her fur a good shakg and got a nice new drs the barga.” Rears will no doubt agree, but what, then, do the story mean?</p><p class="paywall">Such ntradictns have led a number of crics to scribe the Demeron as amoral. Erich Auerbach, the revered lerary historian, says that, as soon as Boccc touch on anythg tragic or even problematic, the book be “weak and superficial.” There is some tth to this. Many of the stori of day ten, featurg people who bee famo for their magnanimy, are untertg and even ridiculo. Griselda is this group. So is the story of two iends ancient Rome, T and Gisipp, each of whom vi to be ccified place of the other, for a murr that neher mted. Moved by this spectacle of altism, the real crimal nfs, wherpon T tak Gisipp home and giv him half of everythg that he owns, pl one of his uld say that Boccc erred only when he ventured out of his home terrory: realism. That was the opn of Alberto Moravia: that Boccc’s valu were those of an artist, not a moralist. The sheen on the Demeron, Moravia wrote, riv precisely om the book’s difference to ethics, s exclive foc on the facts. In Boccc’s tal, the world is</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>like the ty <em>natur mort</em>, rners of landsp, and background-figur of some of our fourteenth-, fifteenth- and sixteenth-century paters. Actn, pure actn, whout tend meang or ethics, gas pth, lucidy and mystery om those tails that no amount of ser moral tentn uld give .</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Thk of the ltle towered ci, and the villag, wh shepherds and sheep, the far distance, behd the Virg Mary or St. Francis or whomever, Renaissance patgs. Love of the world: the paters had , and so, Moravia says, did Boccc.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">What if happs, cludg sexual happs, were self a moral virtue? In the Middle Ag, <em>acedia</em>, spirual torpor or gloom, was regard as a s. You were supposed to love God’s world. And the wealth of thgs and people and cints Boccc’s book—the flowers liftg their fac to the sun, the merchants’ ships flashg across the seas, the nuns takg turns havg sex wh the garner the tool shed—are a warrant of his love. Boccc’s characters, Moravia says, are so particular and lively, ’s as if he were jealo of them.</p><p class="paywall">Happs may also foster tolerance—toward Jews, for stance (see the story of Abraham), and women (most of the time). Such open-mdns is a subdivisn of a general spir of good will the Demeron. The duped hbands don’t suffer much. One example is the story of Ferondo, a wealthy peasant. The lol abbot, fdg Ferondo’s wife attractive, giv him a sleepg potn, claps him a dungeon, and go to woo the wife. When Ferondo wak up, a monk stcted by the abbot tells him that he is Purgatory, and then beats him to a pulp. This go on twice a day for almost a year, at which pot Ferondo’s wife be pregnant by the abbot. Ferondo mt therefore be brought back. That is acplished, and Ferondo tells the neighbors how he was Purgatory, and what was like. They all ask him how their relativ are dog there, and he mak up wonrful stori, which they believe. He is now an important man his town. The wife and the abbot still get to renzvo ocsnally. Everyone is ntent.</p><p class="paywall">Fally, the high spirs of the Demeron have polil force. They help make the book proto-mocratic. Boccc probably wasn’t tryg to raise the humble. Yet, bee he clearly liked the people, he did raise them. Most of Boccc’s pliments to ordary folk are the form of language—for example, his bright, piquant prentatn of their slang. They seem to have a hundred lovely metaphors, wh a donkey or a bucket or whatever, for everythg life. And, however improper the gogs on the Demeron, the language is almost never filthy. An stctive pann volume to Rebhorn’s Demeron is the recent “Fablix” (Liveright), translated by Nathaniel E. Dub, and scribed by R. Howard Bloch, the troductn, as the first substantial llectn of <em>fablix</em>, any language, for today’s general rear. <em>Fablix</em> are ic tal, verse, posed between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuri, typilly northern France. Most of them are anonymo. They are, Bloch wr, the “first important exprsn of European lerary realism”; they tell how the cizens of that perd actually lived—how they ate and drsed and slept and did their hair. Most of the tal also scribe, not polely, how people had sex, and alt wh bathroom matters. Glancg down the table of ntents of Dub’s volume, we fd the followg tl: “The Knight Who Ma Cunts Talk,” “The Piece of Sh,” “The Mourner Who Got Fucked at the Grave Se,” “The Peasant’s Fart.” The words ed here have not been adjted to nform to morn immosty; the translatn is leral. In “The Piece of Sh,” a man actually eats one, though ’s his wife’s, and small.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="zd2s4a"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">This is fun, until you get tired of . A fuck is always a “fuck,” regardls of what was prumably one episo’s difference om another. Likewise, the sentence stcture is paratactic: ABCD. The knight said such-and-such; then the peasant said such-and-such; then his wife said such-and-such. To this, Boccc is like a stle to a ve. He is probably Wtern lerature’s foremost master of sexual phemism. His lovers grd at the l; they give the wool a whackg; they make the nightgale sg. Boccc do this not bee he is abashed by his material but bee, as an artist of language, he would be ashamed to say “fuck” five tim one story. Even more telligent is his syntax. <em>Bee</em> the knight said such-and-such, the peasant said such-and-such, <em>even though</em> his wife had <em>prevly</em> said such-and-such. This is the kd of sentence stcture that was hand down to by Lat, and that Wtern people, whether or not they ever studied Lat, regnize as their own.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Italians before Boccc had wrten prose a sophistited form. Dante was the first tly distguished practner, but his monumental work, the Dive Comedy, is wrten verse, not prose. “Art” fictn prose took centuri to e of age, bee medieval wrers, like the ancients, nsired prose ferr to verse for the purpos of imagative lerature. Today, is the primary medium of lerary wrg: novels, short stori. In Italy, the pneer of that change was Boccc. In the words of one cric, “It is no exaggeratn to say that Boccc almost by himself tablished the Italian language as an effective and supple medium for prose.”</p><p class="paywall">The other remarkable feature of Boccc’s language is that, while s stcture may be hered om Lat, the words are Italian. In his time, many ted people still regard the language of everyday life as too rough a medium for an amb piece of wrg. Most lerary works were Lat. In Italy, the banner-rrier the mpaign agast this policy was, aga, Dante. The Dive Comedy was wrten the Florente dialect. Boccc worshipped Dante—he gave the name “dive” to the poem that Dante lled, simply, the “edy”—and eagerly followed his example. Others, turn, pied him. More and more books were wrten the mon tongue and (as was not the se wh Dante) about moners. From that seedbed grew the ia that the liv of ordary people uld be scribed lerary language, and thereby ennobled.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Rebhorn’s translatn of the Demeron is a thoughtful piece of work, wh populist tentns. He believ that Boccc’s Latate syntax, wh s rgo of subordate cls and phras, nnot be reproduced fluently morn English, so he sometim breaks up a sentence. Aga wh a ncern for the mon rear, he has tried to make the slang sound natural, and he succeeds. His slang is dated, though (“muttonhead,” “tuckered out”). Also, he repeatedly ns to the problem of havg to be low language wh high. Of a woman who is beg pursued by a man she dislik, he wr, “Fdg his nstant proddg an tolerable burn, the lady cid to get him off her back.” In lerary English, or any English, no tolerable burn would be joed, one sentence, wh gettg someone off your back. It should be said, though, that Rebhorn, his endnot, explas his cisns. He tells a lot more as well. When Boccc scrib a baker, Cisti, whose shop was next to the Chia di Santa Maria gli Ughi, Rebhorn tells that 1300 there was, fact, a baker named Cisti, whose shop was suated there. He relays the gog wisdom: Genoe are misers; Florent are sly; Pegia is full of homosexuals. He explas the jok. In one story, there is an ugly man named Snnad. In the not, we fd out that the man’s name means “he sls the throat of God.” A lot of this rmatn we didn’t need, but is endnot, not footnot. We don’t have to read them. We should, though. They are a secret msage, about Rebhorn’s love of the Demeron, and the years and years of work he spent on .</p><p class="paywall">Rebhorn’s translatn, of urse, is not the only one prt. In 1977, Mark Ma and Peter Bondanella, both of whom are now distguished profsors emeri at Indiana Universy, brought out a versn that, unlike Rebhorn’s, do not bend over backward to make thgs easy for the rear. In their troductn, they proudly tell that they have not hacked up Boccc’s perdic sentenc to prose “remiscent of the style of Ernt Hemgway.” Nor did they make Rebhorn’s effort to mornize the old, idmatic vobulary. They translate <em>pare</em> as “godfather”—that is, the man who stood up for you at your baptism, and said that you would abjure the Devil and all his works—which is not at all what Boccc meant. He meant “goombah,” as northern New Jersey. Rebhorn renrs as “good buddy,” which, as ual wh his slang, is out of date but accurate.</p><p class="paywall">But the most important pot about this versn is that is heavily abridged. It has only twenty-one tal out of Boccc’s hundred. It also let most of the material between the tal: the tellers’ troductns and mentari, and the scriptns of how the group played the vl, took nice naps, and so on. Whout this ntext, not to speak of the missg tal, one los much of the flavor—ed, much of the meang. And yet, this is the versn I would remend to many rears. A hundred stori is a lot of stori. (Rebhorn’s book is more than ne hundred pag long.) Ma and Bondanella have refully chosen the bt tal—Abraham’s trip to Rome, Peronella wh the barrel—and also the most important. Patient Griselda is there. Furthermore, this versn, as one of the excellent Norton Cril edns, clus a number of the most telligent says on the Demeron. Among them is “An Introductn to Boccc” (1975), by Thomas Berg. This is one of those cril says that are almost better than the thg they’re about.</p><p class="paywall">Five years after this short versn, Ma and Bondanella published an unabridged translatn, but sce, therefore, they sacrificed the virtue of brevy, and, to acmodate the add material, dropped the Norton edn’s cril says, this book has no real advantag over Rebhorn’s. If you want jt a sample of the saltier si of the Demeron, the qualy for which is most loved—or if you are teachg an unrgraduate survey of Italian lerature—e Ma and Bondanella’s abridged edn. If you have more time, and want the te, mixed, fourteenth-century book that Boccc wrote, choose Rebhorn.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In 1350, as Boccc was wrg the Demeron, he met Petrarch, who at that time was the most famo wrer Italy and the foremost Italian reprentative of Renaissance humanism, the return to ancient valu and ancient lerature that some measure unleashed the High Renaissance. Unr Petrarch’s fluence, Boccc beme ashamed of the Demeron. Ma and Bondanella, the abridged translatn, reproduce parts of the two men’s rrponnce. In one nscendg letter, Petrarch says that he hasn’t had time to read the portns of the Demeron that had e his way. Actually, he wr, he hasn’t <em>taken</em> the time, bee this book seemed to him a product of Boccc’s youth, and of a qut for popular rearship. In other words, they weren’t worth his time. He did, however, like patient Griselda. He translated the story to Lat and showed to iends of his. They wept, he says.</p><p class="paywall">In the last perd of Boccc’s life, the post-Demeron years, he lived on a small fay property Certaldo, a town outsi Florence, which may have been his birthplace. Like his father, he never married, but he produced a number of illegimate children. He plaed of havg no money—possibly wh reason. He went on some diplomatic missns for the ernment of Florence, and he produced a number of reference books, Lat. He never aga wrote a substantial piece of prose fictn.</p><p class="paywall">In the thirteen-fifti, jt after the Demeron, he unrwent a relig crisis. By 1360, he had taken holy orrs. It is said that he wanted to stroy the Demeron—that he thought was a ivolo and dirty thg. Yet, a few years before his ath, he pied the whole mancript out his own hand. (This is the versn ed by all morn edors and translators.) So he seems to have had some ridual pri this book. Furthermore, he uld never have taken the Demeron out of circulatn. It was already famo.</p><p class="paywall">Boccc is a premier example of that rare speci, the one-great-book great wrer. I see the Demeron as a picture, wh the ten elegant Florent, their silk gowns and embroired doublets, jog hands and dancg their lovely circle dance, the <em>rola</em>. And the middle of the circle are monks and merchants and paters and prostut eatg dner and havg sex and kickg one another to dch. In other words, we see the Renaissance embraced by the Middle Ag, like a pla orbed by s moons. It is a betiful sight, and also strange. We see om afar. ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="m5q1xl"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2013/11/11" data-reactroot="">November 11, 2013</a>, issue.</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/joan-acella">Joan Acella</a> has been a staff wrer at The New Yorker sce 1995. 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class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Are You the Same Person You Used to Be?" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Rearchers have studied how much of our personaly is set om childhood, but what you’re like isn’t who you are.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" 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summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">On Killg Charl Dickens</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="On Killg Charl Dickens" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">I did everythg I uld to avoid wrg my historil novel. When I fally started “The Frd,” one prciple was clear: no Dickens.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Zadie Smh</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Upper Wt Si Cult That Hid Pla Sight" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Unr Review</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Upper Wt Si Cult That Hid Pla Sight</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Upper Wt Si Cult That Hid Pla Sight" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">In the sixti and seventi, the Sullivanian Instute had a wng sal pch for young New Yorkers: parti, sex, low rent, and affordable therapy.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Jsi Wter</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Lows of the High Life" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">The Weekend Essay</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Lows of the High Life</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Lows of the High Life" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">I had never had money, and then I did. For three days New York, I learned how not to e .</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Andre Dub III</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR ad ad--read-more"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--read-more" data-no-id="s5pw8e"></div></div></div><div class="SummaryCollectnGridToActnWrapper-gnReGN eGayfk"></div></div></div></div></div></div><div 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