Michael Sherberg - Böcker

Long celebrated as one of "the Three Crowns" of Florence, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75) experimented widely with the forms of literature. His prolific and innovative writings - which range beyond the novella, from lyric to epic, from biography to mythography and geography, from pastoral and romance to invective - became powerful models for authors in Italy and across the Continent. This collection of essays presents Boccaccio's life and creative output in its encyclopedic diversity. Exploring a variety of genres, Latin as well as Italian, it provides short descriptions of all his works, situates them in his oeuvre, and features critical expositions of their most salient features and innovations. Designed for readers at all levels, it will appeal to scholars of literature, medieval and Renaissance studies, humanism and the classical tradition, as well as European historians, art historians, and students of material culture and the history of the book. Anchored by an introduction and chronology, this volume contains contributions by prominent Boccaccio scholars in the United States, as well as essays by contributors from France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.The year 2013, Boccaccio's seven-hundredth birthday, will be an important one for the study of his work and will see an increase in academic interest in reassessing his legacy.

In 1881, Carlo Collodi intended simply to write a children’s story about an inexplicably animate piece of wood. The Adventures of Pinocchio has since become one of Italy’s most successful literary exports, giving life to numerous adaptations. The novel is meaningful to college students today, as it deals with the difficulty of abandoning childhood, the value of education, and what it means to be human.This volume, like others in the MLA’s Approaches to Teaching World Literature series, is divided into two parts. Part 1, “Materials,” gives the instructor bibliographic information on the text and contexts of the book, the critical literature, and audiovisual and electronic resources. Part 2, “Approaches,” contains nineteen essays on teaching Pinocchio and its adaptations, which cover such topics as Collodi’s life, society in post-Unification Italy, the gothic element, the Frankenstein theme, myths and archetypes, the influence of Ariosto and other writers, children’s literature and censorship, the animal fable, and how the famous Disney movie is both a help and a hindrance in the classroom.

This volume, part of the Lectura Boccaccii series organized by the American Boccaccio Association, offers close readings by top scholars of Day Four of the Decameron. As fans of the Decameron know, the Fourth Day opens with an important intervention in which the author defends his project against his critics, which coincides with a significant change in tone as the subject matter turns to stories with unhappy endings. The contributors approach the stories from a variety of perspectives, including the linguistic, philosophical, anthropological, and literary historical. These fresh readings of stories that are nearly seven hundred years old testify to the enduring power of Boccaccio’s masterpiece to speak to new audiences and to find compelling relevance even at a great distance from its immediate medieval context.