Topics in Medieval Italian Literature and Culture: Paradigmi di una Pandemia: Boccaccio's Decameron

Conceived in the aftermath of the plague of 1348 and as a response to the devastation it produced, Boccaccio's "Decameron" is a complex set of interconnected stories, linked by the author's convictions about literature and the role it plays in a community. Our reading of selected novellas in the original language will offer a point of entry into several traditions in Italian and European culture and an opportunity to reflect critically on the present.