Boccaccio’s Decameron and the Ciceronian Renaissance

Author Michaela Paasche Grudin: Michaela Paasche Grudin is Professor Emerita at Lewis and Clark College, USA.Author Robert Grudin: Robert Grudin is Professor Emeritus at the University of Oregon, USA.

"Boccaccio scholars and all readers interested in the Decameron who are tempted to dismiss this study for its title's last words - the Ciceronian Renaissance in the Decameron - should take heed: This substantial volume by Michaela Paasche and Robert Grudin, a wife and husband team of scholars, succeeds in offering what many other studies of comparable length have failed to do, namely, a comprehensive analysis of Boccaccio's masterpiece in its entirety from a novel perspective, which is appealing and which explains many challenging elements of Boccaccio's masterpiece." - Annali d'Italianistica "By exposing Boccaccio's debt to Cicero, Grudin and Grudin offer a fresh and thought-provoking contribution to Decameron studies." - Speculum

• Preface Introduction: Cicero and the Decameron Ingegno: The Individual and Authority: Decameron Day I Ingegno: Wit as the Soul of Action: Day II Ingegno: Wit as Misdirection and Iconoclasm: Day III Reason's Debt to Passion: Day IV The Shock of Recognition: Day V Misrule and Inspiration: Day VI Valley of Ingegno: Day VII Boccaccio's Ship of Fools: Day VIII Truth, Lie and Eloquence: Day IX The Ciceronian Synthesis and 'Author's Conclusion:' Day X The Decameron and Italian Culture Bibliography