The Decameron (Classic Literature with Classical Music) [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Giovanni Boccaccio (Author), Various Artists (Narrator)

Book Description

Series: Classic Literature with Classical Music | Publication Date: December 2000

At the time of the plague in the 1340s, a group of friends in Italy enclosed themselves in a castle in an attempt to survive the maelstrom outside. To pass the time, they told stories: ten stories over a period of ten days. This edition includes Medieval Italian music from the Naxos catalogue.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The first and definitive diplomatic edition of Boccaccio's holograph MS... From a strictly textual viewpoint, all other editions of The Decameron are now superseded." -- Reference Books in the Humanities

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Language Notes

Text: English, Italian (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks; abridged edition edition (December 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9626342099
• ISBN-13: 978-9626342091
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,929,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Kindle customers beware!, March 18, 2009

By 

Charles S. Houser (Binghamton, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Decameron (Kindle Edition)

Amazon has linked this book to the page for Penguin's edition of The Decameron translated by G.H. McWilliam. After careful shopping for the "right translation," I ended up purchasing McWilliams'. And the more I read it the happier I am with my choice. When I saw that the book was also available for my Kindle I impulsively downloaded it. WARNING: This is NOT the McWilliam's translation (it seems to be a very old, public domain text); nor does it include McWilliams' excellent and conprehensive introduction.

My advice to Kindle customers: When buying classic literature in translation for downloading, always order a free sample first so you be sure it's the translation you want.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Audio Book, March 11, 2008

By 

Jeffrey Van Wagoner (Gilbert, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Decameron: Library Edition (Audio Cassette)

This review is for the unabridged Blackstone audio book narrated by Frederick Davidson. I have a rather long commute, so I pass the time listening to audio books and I have been working my way through several of the classics. I saw that the Decameron was available and that it had good reviews so I gave it a shot. It turned out to be a very enjoyable listening experience.

The reader has a very appropriate voice for this book. He does a good job changing his voice to match the different characters. The translation is somewhat archaic and was initially hard to follow until I got used to the terms. I actually got to enjoy some of the terms after awhile. For example, when addressing the women in the storytelling group, the men would call them `lovesome ladies'.

The 100 stories in the Decameron were delightful. They were told in groups of ten, with a theme for each. Some were very bawdy, and I'm hoping adultery wasn't as common of a practice in the 14th century as indicated. I recognized many of the storylines in movies I have seen or books I have read. It's amazing how much creativity one man can generate. The stories occurred mostly in Italy, but covered much of Europe and the Muslim world as well. Boccaccio clearly used his satire to skewer the hypocritical churchmen of his time. It was very interesting to see what the world was like in those days.

This is clearly a classic that deserves to be read. The audio book was also very good, but be aware that it may take the first hour or two to get used to the archaic language. After the adjustment, it turns out to be a gem.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars life is life, November 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Decameron (Audio Cassette)

as i approached boccaccio`s decameron i was forced not to to stop reading it and though it`s language was rather hard giovvanni`s strange ability of putting words together made me comprehend every single part of it.ten young people chose to escape the devastating plague by going into a solitary house a little away from florence.in order to avoid burdom they all agreed that each one of them to tell a story each day .boccaccio used such stories to depict the absurdities and moral corruption of the many people living . all in all the gift of poety and literature that he has enabled his story to be very amusing , he could serve his aim through the book by using a light comic style which made it interesting to whoever reads it.