Pleasantly Surprised

I remember reading an article for the annotated bibliography in Dr. Kennedy’s 310 class about Boccaccio’s The Decameron, and I also remember thinking that I hoped I would never have to read it. When I saw it on the syllabus for this course, I won’t lie – I was a little intimidated. I had never had an intensive study on Boccaccio but from what I heard, he seemed like an unavoidable author as an English major. When I forced myself to sit down and read The Decameron, I realized that *shock!* I actually genuinely enjoy his writing. I have a lot easier time getting through lengthy readings when they are broken down into shorter stories, and the fact that Boccaccio uses language such as “amorous sport” and “the kind of horn that men do their butting with” to describe scenes that are usually left up to readers’ imaginations just helps to keep my attention. Even though it was written hundreds of years ago, Boccaccio’s language (or the translation at least) somehow evokes a modern feel. I don’t feel like I am reading a medieval narrative because the stories (while some details are not completely up to date) are not too hard to imagine happening today. I really enjoy how the women are portrayed as being very in control of their sexuality especially in Day One (of what I’ve read so far). It reminded me of The Arabian Nights (though I am drawing a blank for specific examples at the moment… sorry).
As I sat in the waiting room for PrimeCare (a truly special experience in its own right) and had an old woman comment on the “really big book” I was reading, I realized that The Decameron, all 800+ pages of it is something I would never have picked up on my own and can only thank classes like these for exposing me to it. Though I see similarities between Arabian Nights and The Decameron, I am slightly more inclined to hold on to my copy of The Decameron. I can only explain this with the fact that the humor kept me interested, though from what you said about the onion/rose parallel, I am probably missing out on even more hilarious moments throughout. Though I am going off on a slight tangent, I feel that English majors should be exposed at some point, though I don’t effectively know how, to basic Latin, French, and Greek mythology to name a few before studying upper level courses. If we had a foundation of some of these fields, it would be more evident when we read texts such as the ones in this course. I studied Spanish, which has very little to no bearing on anything I have studied as an English major thus far. Anyway, to get to the point, I am glad that I am being “forced” to read works such as The Decameron – a text that I had planned on avoiding like the plague (no pun intended).