The Decameron

For nearly seven centuries, the masterpiece by the Italian writer and poet Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) has remained a constant presence in the world of literature. “One Hundred Novels, Told Over the Course of Ten Days by Seven Ladies and Three Young Men” against the backdrop of the plague epidemic in Florence in 1348 form the fabric of The Decameron. Like a colorful kaleidoscope, the work alternates between real events, amusing anecdotes, and legends; happy and tragic love stories with an erotic undertone; unflattering social phenomena; human customs and passions; and human vices - a mirror of life and the spiritual climate of the world at that time. On the cusp of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a Renaissance humanist created an “encyclopedia of the Renaissance personality” with its sensuality and uninhibited worldview, a comprehensive portrait of human nature with its strengths and weaknesses, viewed through the prism of the comic and the satirical.

Rejected, banned, and praised, The Decameron transcends the boundaries of its time to become part of the literary canon. This edition includes 22 novellas.

Yasen Gyuzelev’s expressive illustrations, in harmony with the spirit and style of the era, are a magnificent visual complement to this selection of the best from this timeless work with an existential charge.