Not only is it not taught anymore, it’s been mostly forgotten. In an online class in Fall 2020, I joked with my professor that we should just read through The Decameron (for obvious reasons), and she didn’t know what I was talking about. She was a tenured PhD….
A while back (Starter Kit?) you highly recommended the Rebhorn translation so I bought the e-book version. You'll be happy to know that at the very end several reviews are quoted including a bit of yours from the Quarterly Conversation.
Bsst translation is the Wayne Rebhorn translation which has Steve's blurb on it! (Same goes for the Michael Katz translation of Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky.) Second best is the G.H. McWilliam translation with Penguin. Both are great translations of the Decameron. And, unless you read it and love it so much it draws you into the Decameron like no other translation, best to avoid the Richard Aldington translation because, as McWilliam notes, it makes a bunch of "schoolboy errors".
The translation questions are fascinating. A friend of mine read it in college because it was required reading for all freshmen--and everyone in her year was apparently obsessed with it at least until they graduated. (This was in the 1980s--not recently.) I don't think I've heard of many books taught in school that made such a great impact.
Yes, yes, yes! I haven't read this one in decades and really need to get back around to revisiting it! I need to get a copy for my own physical shelves, and will watch for that particular paperback with the great blurb included in there. Wonderful pick, Steve.
I find the art of translation fascinating! It was partly because of you - when you did the video on Homer. I started looking at side by side translations of my Rimbaud, and it's crazy how different they can be. I think I would have to agree with Dante. More videos about translating would be great!
I first read the decameron in 2019 while I was doing the western canon starter kit, so it was somewhat surreal to read the famous opening at the time with lockdown. I want to reread this at some point, the stories were so entertaining and funny.
I just checked, and of course the only copy I have of this book is the Aldington translation. It's not the copy I read in college, so I don't know how I feel about this one yet.
This is one of my all-time favoritest books! I've referenced it or used lines from it in almost all of my own books, and I know my favorite stories almost by heart. If I ever get enough active subscribers, I'm going to do a series of at least 115 videos on this book.
I want to reread this but will wait until the question of reading the Norton English Anthologies is settled. Could I do both and Historathon all in one year? Mmmm, I'll have to work on that. I'm currently reading about 130 to 150 pages per day, so it could be possible, if I upped my game.
Not only is it not taught anymore, it’s been mostly forgotten. In an online class in Fall 2020, I joked with my professor that we should just read through The Decameron (for obvious reasons), and she didn’t know what I was talking about. She was a tenured PhD….
I myself had no idea what tf a Boccaccio was. Sounds like a type of coffee.
A while back (Starter Kit?) you highly recommended the Rebhorn translation so I bought the e-book version. You'll be happy to know that at the very end several reviews are quoted including a bit of yours from the Quarterly Conversation.
Bsst translation is the Wayne Rebhorn translation which has Steve's blurb on it! (Same goes for the Michael Katz translation of Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky.) Second best is the G.H. McWilliam translation with Penguin. Both are great translations of the Decameron. And, unless you read it and love it so much it draws you into the Decameron like no other translation, best to avoid the Richard Aldington translation because, as McWilliam notes, it makes a bunch of "schoolboy errors".
The translation questions are fascinating. A friend of mine read it in college because it was required reading for all freshmen--and everyone in her year was apparently obsessed with it at least until they graduated. (This was in the 1980s--not recently.) I don't think I've heard of many books taught in school that made such a great impact.
Yes, yes, yes! I haven't read this one in decades and really need to get back around to revisiting it! I need to get a copy for my own physical shelves, and will watch for that particular paperback with the great blurb included in there. Wonderful pick, Steve.
Please do go on forever, Steve!
Love the Penguin Classics. Thanks for introducing us to this novel. I had never heard of it. :)
I started this in December and will work through it this year and do a couple different translations in a row😊
Sounds like the Bean is practicing for a castanet solo in the background
I find the art of translation fascinating! It was partly because of you - when you did the video on Homer. I started looking at side by side translations of my Rimbaud, and it's crazy how different they can be. I think I would have to agree with Dante. More videos about translating would be great!
I first read the decameron in 2019 while I was doing the western canon starter kit, so it was somewhat surreal to read the famous opening at the time with lockdown. I want to reread this at some point, the stories were so entertaining and funny.
I just checked, and of course the only copy I have of this book is the Aldington translation. It's not the copy I read in college, so I don't know how I feel about this one yet.
This is one of my all-time favoritest books! I've referenced it or used lines from it in almost all of my own books, and I know my favorite stories almost by heart. If I ever get enough active subscribers, I'm going to do a series of at least 115 videos on this book.
Ahhh... Florence! Why is it that Rome gets all the credit without even having a standing opera house?
I want to reread this but will wait until the question of reading the Norton English Anthologies is settled. Could I do both and Historathon all in one year? Mmmm, I'll have to work on that. I'm currently reading about 130 to 150 pages per day, so it could be possible, if I upped my game.
I honestly think translators who pander to modern academic fashions are damaging the perception of the classics, and possibly the works' longevity.
There are two cities outside the United States I could live in one is Florence I love that town