|
|
Article: Boccaccio was ahead of Chaucer's `Tales'.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- July 7, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A friend eyed with curiosity an edition of Boccaccio's ``The Decameron,'' which I had obtained at a flea market. To my surprise, she asked, ``What is that?'' She's intelligent, well-read and in possession of good, all-around knowledge of literature, but she hadn't heard of Giovanni Boccaccio or ``The Decameron.''
So I asked whether she had heard of Chaucer, not quite realizing that I was truly adding insult to injury. Of course she'd heard of Geoffrey Chaucer, and knew ``The Canterbury Tales'' rather well. Whereupon I remarked that Chaucer derived his scheme for the ``Tales'' from Boccaccio's signature work.
They are the great matching cornerstones of ...