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介不介绍《十日谈》这本书我是一直举棋不定的。虽然以当时的角度看来非常进步，而该书也确实在世界文明史与文学史上占据了不可动摇的地位，但是以今天的眼光看来，这书基本上可以概括为荒诞淫浪故事集……囧
不过反过来想一想，该书的剧情进展很有套路，故事也是妙趣横生，而大部分内容虽然稍嫌情色，依然不失道理，认真品读的话，即使在当今社会也可以受到不小的启发。至于那些有些过分的内容，大家就当成时代特色好了，反正咱们说《聊斋志异》也不是什么清水的……

今天spica为大家奉上的，是文艺复兴时期的启蒙大作——薄伽丘的《十日谈》。

spica碎语：

I finished reading it when I was in Senior School, and I found the stories quite interesting, however, many of them are erotic and even disgusting. It is a lot of fun to think about its deep meaning and to get a sight of the ancient time. Boccaccio's writing devices and structure are fantastic, and they make the book more than a simple fairy tale.

今天少说点，多介绍点。因为这书实在不是简单的几段话可以概括成功的……

General Image
The Decameron is a collection of 100 novellas by the famous master of the Renaissance---Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio. It is a medieval allegorical work best known for its bawdy tales of love, appearing in all its possibilities from the erotic to the tragic.

Decameron is structured in a frame narrative, or frame tale. Boccaccio begins with a description of the Black Death and leads a group of seven women and three men who flee from plague-ridden Florence to a villa in the countryside of Fiesole for two weeks. To pass the time, each member of the party tells one story for each one of the nights spent at the villa. Although fourteen days pass, two days each week are set aside: one day for chores and one holy day during which no work is done. In this manner, 100 stories are told by the end of the ten days.

《十日谈》的框架结构我第一次读到的时候觉得十分新颖。虽然这种结构在用说书引出故事的中国古文中屡见不鲜，但在这么久远的年代，外国文学家就写出了这种结构让我还是被华丽丽地震撼了一下。而且该书的框架层层推进，环环嵌套，十分有特色，下面我们来详细说明。

Structure
Each of the ten characters is charged as King or Queen of the company for one of the ten days in turn. Each character tells a tale of a unique individual's personal experience. This charge extends to choosing the theme of the stories for that day, and all but two days have topics assigned: examples of the power of fortune; examples of the power of human will; love tales that end tragically; love tales that end happily; clever replies that save the speaker; tricks that women play on men; tricks that people play on each other in general; examples of virtue. Only Dioneo, who usually tells the tenth tale each day, has the right to tell a tale on any topic he wishes, due to his wit.

Each day also includes a short introduction and conclusion to continue the frame of the tales by describing other daily activities besides story-telling. These frame tale interludes frequently include transcriptions of Italian folk songs. The interactions among tales in a day, or across days, as Boccaccio spins variations and reversals of previous material, forms a whole and not just a collection of stories.

Beyond the unity provided by the frame narrative, Decameron provides a unity in philosophical outlook. Throughout runs the common medieval theme of Lady Fortune, and how quickly one can rise and fall through the external influences of the "Wheel of Fortune". Boccaccio had been educated in the tradition of Dante's Divine Comedy which used various levels of allegory to show the connections between the literal events of the story and the hidden Christian message. However Decameron uses Dante's model not to educate the reader, but to satirize this method of learning. The Roman Catholic Church, priests, and religious belief become the satirical source of comedy throughout. This was part of a wider historical trend in the aftermath of the Black Death which saw widespread discontent with the church.

如此结构使得对主题的阐述与推进异常鲜明。而说到主题，该书被普遍认为反映了人文主义思想里比较突出也比较自私的一部分——“纵欲”。这个，说白了就是听从人类自身欲望的差遣而不去在乎什么天道神道。这种思想无疑是很进步的，但是有的地方表述得太进步了就有点不讲理了……有几个故事连美国后来的性解放都快赶上了……

Critical response
Many details of the Decameron are infused with a medieval sense of numerological and mystical significance. For example, it is widely believed that the seven young women are meant to represent the Four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude) and the Three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity). It is further supposed that the three men represent the classical Greek tripartite division of the soul (Reason, Spirit, and Lust, see Book IV of Republic). Boccaccio himself notes that the names he gives for these ten characters are in fact pseudonyms chosen as "appropriate to the qualities of each". The Italian names of the seven women, in the same (most likely significant) order as given in the text, are: Pampinea (the flourishing one), Fiammetta (small flame), Filomena (faithful in love), Emilia (rival), Lauretta (wise, crowned with laurels), Neifile (cloudy), and Elissa (God is my vow). The men, in order, are: Panfilo (friend of all), Filostrato (beaten by love), and Dioneo (of God).

The compelling way in which the tales were written and their almost exclusively Renaissance flair made the stories from the Decameron an irresistible source that many later writers borrowed from. Viewed at this point, this book is no doubt a brilliant masterpiece in history.

研究文艺复兴时期的文学作品大多还是要和古老的神话联系到一起。其实私以为这是很讽刺的一件事，虽说是借着复兴古希腊古罗马文明的名义来宣传资产阶级思想，但到底还是在反对神的同时利用作品歌颂神，这个，就算教会的神和古代的神不一样吧，这是不是依然是一种自相矛盾的妥协表现呢？

本期作业
1.What kind of structure does this book use? Which period was it written?
2.Do you think this book has already been out of fashion? Talk about your opinion about its theme.
（今天的话题很难，偶自己对这个都比较恼火，其实我一直觉得《十日谈》可以和《聊斋志异》对比阅读，大家就单单根据我的介绍和这个小提示自由发挥吧~）

奖励标准
1.完成第一大题奖励30HY，完成第二大题奖励100HY。（大家答题不要那么简略嘛……你就把第二大题当作写小作文好了，还可以练练手~）
2.请大家用英语回答，设置“所有回复人可见”。

我没什么好说的了……这书如果不读是品不出味道的。俗话说“一千个读者眼中有一千个哈姆雷特”，即便有筒子除了有点荒诞的内容外什么深层含义也没看出来，你也可以把这个当成有趣的故事集嘛~这书的故事还真是很好看的，也不乏感人的存在哦！
一如既往，欢迎所有针对节目的意见和建议，也希望大家可以向spica推荐你们喜欢的书，让我们一起期待下一次的节目吧！（对，我也很期待，因为我对下期做什么完全没有概念……囧）

《十日谈》中文版下载（绝望了，找不到英文版……）：

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