Description
Book SynopsisWith The Ethical Dimension of the “Decameron” Marilyn Migiel, author of A Rhetoric of the “Decameron” (winner of the MLA’s 2004 Marraro Prize), returns to Giovanni Boccaccio’s masterpiece, this time to focus on the dialogue about ethical choices that the Decameron creates with us and that we, as individuals and as groups, create with the Decameron.
Maintaining that we can examine this dialogue to gain insights into our values, our biases and our decision-making processes, Migiel offers a view of the Decameron as sticky and thorny. According to Migiel, the Decameron catches us as we move through it, obligating us to reveal ourselves, inviting us to reflect on how we form our assessments, and calling upon us to be mindful of our responsibility to judge patiently and carefully. Migiel’s focus remains unabashedly on the experience of readers, on the meanings they find in the Decamer
Trade Review
'Original, concise, and singularly readable, this book comes as an attractive complement to Migiel's now classic A Rhetoric of the Decameron... Highly recommended.' -- S. Botterill Choice Magazine vol 53:08:2016
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Ethical Dimension of the Decameron 1. Wanted: Translators of the Decameron's Moral and Ethical Complexities 2 He Said, She Said, We Read: An Ethical Reflection on a Confluence of Voices 3. Can the Lower Classes Be Wise? (For the Answer, See Your Translation of the Decameron) 4. Some Restrictions Apply: Testing the Reader in Decameron 3.8 5. Rushing to Judge? Read the Story of Tofano and Ghita (Decameron 7.4) 6. New Lessons in Criticism and Blame from the Decameron 7. He Ironizes, He Ironizes Not, He Ironizes... To Conclude: A Conclusion that Is Not One
