A rhetoric of the Decameron
By: Marilyn Migiel.
Series: Toronto Italian studies
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Toronto; Buffalo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 219
Subjects: Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375; Women in literature
Description: "Addressing herself equally to those who argue for proto-feminist Boccaccio - a quasi-liberal champion of women's autonomy - and to those who argue for a positivistically secure, historical Boccaccio who could not possibly anticipate the concerns of the twenty-first century, Migiel challenges readers to pay attention to Boccaccio's language, to his pronouns, his passives, his patterns of repetition, and his figurative language. She argues that human experience, particularly in the sexual realm, is articulated differently by the Decameron's male and female narrators, and refutes the notion that the Decameron offers an undifferentiated celebration of Eros. Ultimately, Migiel contends, the stories of the Decameron suggest that as women become more empowered, the limitations on them, including the threat of violence, become more insistent."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [203]-212) and index.