Boccaccio`s "Decameron" – Rewriting the Christian Middle Ages and the Lyric Tradition

Dino S. Cervigni is professor emeritus of Romance languages and comparative literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Annali d’italianistica and is the author of numerous books, including Dante’s Poetry of Dreams.  

Acknowledgments
Notes on Citations of the Decameron
Introduction
1. The All-Encompassing Discourse: Topoi of the Poet, Women, and Critics
2. The Brigata’s Overarching Tale: Rewriting the Christian Middle Ages
3. The Decameron’s Ballads and Emilia’s Song: “I have such desire for my own beauty” (“Io son sì vaga della mia bellezza.” Dec. 1)
4. Pampínea’s “What woman will sing if I myself do not?” (Qual donna canterà, s’i’non cant’io?” Dec. 2)
5. Lauretta’s “No woman without consolation” (Niuna sconsolata.” Dec. 3)
6. Filostrato’s Desperate Song: “Weeping, I show” (“Lagrimando dimostro.” Dec. 4)
7. Dioneo in Love’s Chains: The Erotic Storyteller vs. the Pathetic Lover
8. Love, War, and Servitude in Elissa’s (Dec. 6)
9. Filomena’s Unhappy Love: “Ah, my wretched life!” (“Deh lassa la mia vita!” Dec. 7)
10. Panfilo’s Erotic Song: “So great, O Love, is the good” (“Tanto è, Amore, il bene.” Dec. 8)
11. Neifile’s Distant Beloved: “A young girl am I” (“Io mi son giovinetta.” Dec. 9)
12. Making Amends and Behaving Magnificently: Dec. 10’s Secular Redemption
13. Fiammetta’s Desperate Ballad (Dec. 10): Concluding All Lyric Singing
14. The Decameron’s Precarious Centers, the Author’s Story, His Open-ended Conclusion
Appendix: The Narrator as Moral Commentator: Humor, Humorous Tales, and Humorous Storytellers
Works Cited & Bibliography
Index of Important Matters
Index of Names