A Rhetoric of the Decameron (Toronto Italian Studies) - Softcover

Migiel, Marilyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802085946 ISBN 13: 9780802085948

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2004

Synopsis

Both a passionate denunciation of masculinist readings of the Decameron and a meticulous critique of previous feminist analyses, Marilyn Migiel's A Rhetoric of the Decameron offers a sophisticated re-examination of the representations of women, men, gender identity, sexuality, love, hate, morality, and truth in Boccaccio's masterpiece. The Decameron stages an ongoing, dynamic, and spirited debate about issues as urgent now as in the fourteenth century - a debate that can only be understood if the Decameron's rhetorical objectives and strategies are completely reconceived. Addressing herself equally to those who argue for a proto-feminist Boccaccio - a quasi-liberal champion of women's autonomy - and to those who argue for a positivistically secure historical Boccaccio who could not possibly anticipate the concerns of the twenty-first century, Migiel challenges readers to pay attention to Boccaccio's language, to his pronouns, his passives, his echolalia, his patterns of repetition, and his figurative language. She argues that human experience, particularly in the sexual realm, is articulated differently by the Decameron's male and female narrators, and refutes the notion that the Decameron offers an undifferentiated celebration of Eros. Ultimately, Migiel contends, the stories of the Decameron suggest that as women become more empowered, the limitations on them, including the threat of violence, become more insistent.

About this title

Review:

"'A Rhetoric of the Decameron is extremely well written and very capably argued, and Marilyn Migiel brilliantly succeeds in mapping the usually subtle but sometimes aggressive politics of women narrators' responses to their male counterparts.' R. Allen Shoaf, Alumni Professor of English, University of Florida; 'This is an exceptional contribution to the discussion in progress on the Decameron, particularly on topics that are central to current criticism... The book is stimulating, meritorious, and tremendously useful, making an unassailable case for the urgent relevance of the past to the present.' Regina Psaki, Giustina Family Professor of Italian Language and Literature, University of Oregon"

About the Author:

Marilyn Migiel is Professor of Romance Studies at Cornell University.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0802085946
• ISBN 13: 9780802085948
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 220