Boccaccio: The Fragility of Genius

A comprehensive biography of the celebrated author of the Decameron, a medieval masterpiece written in early Italian.

Boccaccio (1313-75) stands with Dante and Petrarch as one of the ＂Three Crowns＂ of Italian letters, a trio of writers who shaped the history of humanism, literature, and poetry. In this book, Dante’s award-winning biographer, Marco Santagata, takes up the moving life and legacy of Boccaccio--whose unflinching story of a pandemic-era community (the Decameron) created new possibilities for vernacular Italian prose.

This landmark biography sheds new light on Boccaccio’s life--his family, friends, and foes, his aspirations, fears, and frustrations--and it shows how he was affected by transformations in Italian society. It also charts the influences that shaped Boccaccio’s understanding of literature: what kinds of stories it could tell and what kinds of characters it could depict; and, perhaps most importantly, what role art could play in a changing world. An insightful portrait of one of literature’s most important figures, this book promises to be the definitive biography of Boccaccio for many years to come.

Marco Santagata was professor of Italian literature at the University of Pisa and the author of many books, including Dante: The Story of His Life. Emlyn Eisenach is an independent scholar and translator and the author of Husbands, Wives, and Concubines: Marriage, Family, and Social Order in Sixteenth-Century Verona.