Rhetoric of the Decameron FROM THE PUBLISHER
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.
SYNOPSIS
Migiel thinks women should read Giovannai Boccaccio's (1313-75) collection of stories, written in Italian about 1349-51. In it, she says, seven women and three men struggle to claim authority for competing narratives and institutions and individuals; and a male author and imagined female readers seek a place or places from which they can hear, re-articulate, and respond to the stories told by the ten narrators. The quotations are in Italian with English translation. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
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